2 Minutes to 9

By Cliff Lake

 2 Minutes to 9

 

It's 2 minutes to 9 and the bar downstairs just opened for the night.

But I will not find my solace there.

Too many desperate faces trying to shut out the night,

Too many hollow laughs, hiding too little care.

 

Through the floor come the raucous conversations,

And the laughs that sound like screams.

Punctuation effected by pounding on tables,

Remind me of my own extremes.

 

Alone in their bottles,

They visit imposed fun until

The door is locked behind them.

Alone with each other,

Or a borrowed lover,

With blurry memory to remind them.

Alone in the bottles.

Alone.

When they go home.

So many alone.

 

It's 2 minutes to 9 and the bar downstairs just opened for the night.

And I have no solace upstairs.

Too many blank pages I’m working to get the words right,

As the noise of at least some life seeps up to my lair.

 

Downstairs they plug dollars in to hear the same song again,

So that they don’t have to pay attention.

And they’ll come back tomorrow, and they still won’t find out then

About the loneliness they never mention.

 

Alone in their bottles,

They visit imposed fun until

The door is locked behind them.

Alone with each other,

Or a borrowed lover,

With blurry memory to remind them.

Alone in the bottles.

Alone.

When they go home.

So many alone.

 

It's 2 minutes to 9 and the bar downstairs just opened for the night…

It's 2 minutes to 9 and the bar downstairs just opened for the night…

2 minutes to 9.

 

Cliff Lake 1/13/2023

Copyright © Clifford Lake 2023


Location: Dalton, MA, USA

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