Spirit guide in the bar
Watch the drunk the other side of this drink.
She’s the you you’d be if you drank it.
The you you’ve been before. That your dad was.
The you your children would be
if you thou’d them into existence.
She’s smiling at you. She thinks you look
pretty hot, pretty important,
pretty witty, pretty good fun, exactly
the sort of woman who should put down
her book right now and saunter across the bar
with a devastating pick-up line
and a half-conscious back-up line
in the back of her head, to cancel
tomorrow’s inconsequential commitments.
…
Ramona Herdman’s latest pamphlet, ‘A warm and snouting thing’, is published by The Emma Press. Her previous pamphlet, ‘Bottle’ (HappenStance Press), was a PBS Pamphlet Choice. Ramona lives in Norwich and is a committee member for Café Writers.
atriumpoetry.com 