Page 8 - Contrast1998

This Ain't No Place of Hemingway's

This ain't no place of Hemingway's
No, not this place where I tend bar
Through this place have come straights and gays;
Dull men of peace, dark men of war;
Some Protestant, some Catholic,
Many gentile, though many Jew;
Through this place never did frolic
A gamboler; gamblers? A few.

If you've lost any faith in me,
Then take a gander at this cage,
For I'm not allowed to serve thee
If thou art under drinking age.

At table 38, who is there
Crying into his round of gin andkryptonic?
He's more powerful than anyone anywhere,
But no life is more ironic.
How can he help one person while a village burns?
How can he savethe west while the east slowly dies?
Vice-versa? Vice-versa? As the world turns--
The lead-coated truth is kept from his eyes.

At table 666, whom I muse
is swimming around in his bottle of tequila,
Retired truth devising ruse,
Leading the demonic locust flotilla?
Once a healer in the run, now then ruin,
Once a dealer of the sun, now a briar.
Twin brother to a virgin bruin,
He with golden lyre is liar.

At table 1412, qui est-elle
Chanting for some Benedictine?
If I were to card her, would she be the beast or the belle?
Although a general, she is not over seventeen.
Does she not know that this is not Orleans?
She's bleeding her eyes and ears just to get a Bloody Mary;
So to appease her, I'll give her a flaming filet mignon,
And she'll clothe sexually-contrary.

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