A spiral dance with straw
between gin and ice
and soul.
Mirth, faint
laughter disembodied
trespasses forfeited
relics all.
Recall of conversations
cut by half
our parlor trick with
words/threats
only partly veiled.
“Pretend I don't
exist like always,”
she said.
More now
than ever with
her gone, it's true.
I take a final drink
before the lacerating
cold goes through wounds
with a death whistle.
_________________________________________________________________
Absent at Happy Hour
by Rp Verlaine
Rp Verlaine lives in New York City.
He has an MFA in creative writing from City College.
He taught in New York Public Schools for many years.
His first volume of poetry- Damaged by Dames
& Drinking was published in 2017, and another – Femme Fatales
Movie Starlets & Rockers in 2018. A set of three e-books
titled Lies From The Autobiography vol 1-3 were published from
2018 to 2020. His newest book, Imagined Indecencies,
was published in February 2022. He was nominated for a
Pushcart prize in poetry in 2021 and 2022.
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