Saturday, March 5, 2011

Poetry Bus :"Long ago: At the Barn"

We have been asked to describe a dumb drinking experience:

Deep evergreen shade
a warm beer is pulled from behind
the car seat under a shirt
two swigs become four.

Back through  huge sliding red doors
to finish shoveling sawdust
for fourteen stalls
sticky air builds.

Crank the feed room radio
rock and roll twists with handles
of the wheelbarrow
more and more.

At lunch another warm beer
where two swigs become four.
Finally at four
several of us ride out down the road

On one turn a dog sneaks out
launching a silent attack
on a horses back leg;
I fly off breaking my collar bone

with that and my shame
I have to walk home.
After the hospital
By eight o'clock,

two swigs have become four;
and then many more.

12 comments:

Peter Goulding said...

Love the refrain of two swigs becoming four. At least the warm beer eased the pain of the broken collar bone! Good one!

Suz said...

what a story
love the refrain also
gotta watch those swigs

Brian Miller said...

ugh...and thus it continues, now to heal the pain it already caused...

Titus said...

Loved that! Great when you're at the age when you never learn a lesson, and Peter's right, the refrain is peachy-keen.

Louise said...

'two swigs become four, and then many more' brill line, and lovely pace to the poem, bravo!

Pat Hatt said...

So you spun a yarn about long ago at the barn.
It was a very nice tale, really putting some wind in your sail.
Now on I go, to just go with the flow.

Helen said...

I actually have a 'barn' story ... not suitable for blogging though. Yours is innocent and from a child's perspective.

Enchanted Oak said...

Good work, Iz. What is it about warm beer and youth that inspires some of us to go for four more of that really unpleasant taste?

Lucy Westenra said...

This is a most enjoyable poem.
I'm with Enchanted Oak, only more so. I find all drink tastes unpleasant. Hmmm . . . must be a secret ingredient that makes folk want to binge on them.

Padhraig Nolan said...

Drink and dogs don't mix :->

Margaret said...

...two swigs have become four... love it!

Totalfeckineejit said...

Swiggylicious!And OUCHY!