BARROOM BLUES by David Radavich

I can’t even remember
the whorled wood.
The glass.

It’s been so long

since anyone’s taken
my order.

No laughter
to shout down.

No wings arriving
on a plate.

No shifting
on my hard stool.

Just this house mug
on the sofa,

TV on mute,

this wan smile
trying to conjure up

camaraderie
in the lost night.

David Radavich's narrative collections are America Bound: An Epic for Our Time (2007) and America Abroad: An Epic of Discovery (2019).  Recent lyric collections are Middle-East Mezze (2011) and The Countries We Live In (2014).  His plays have been performed across the U.S. and in Europe.