Dive Bar Dialogues by Ben Adams

there is a young man
sitting at the bar-stool alone
and I ask him
how goes it?
and he says
this is a failing proposition

and I ask him
how do you mean?
and he says
the proposition has failed

The Proposition
was a movie I saw once
with a soundtrack by Nick Cave—
the dark, dull thud of masculine ambiguity
coursing through its chords

but I don't think
this is what he means

he speaks in sentences that end
too soon
assertions and accusations
directed at the world
paints himself
in this dark bar
as the enlightenment man
of reason, holding court


I think of him looking
at Titian's Venus laid out
knowingly
inviting him to investigate her ambiguous opposition
to orthodoxy

but I don't think
this is what he means
either

he moves peanuts from a bowl
to his mouth like a man
unaware they are starving

and glances about the room
at odd intervals

I buy him a beer
and listen as he continues to speak
I have nowhere else to be
and he seems
unknowingly grateful

Ben Adams is a poet, writer, servo-clerk, research assistant and festival cash wrangler, with honors in History and English. His poetry has appeared in a range of print and online publications, including Australian Love Poems, The Grapple Annual, Red Fez, Tulpa Magazine and InDaily. Recently, his poem 'Wet Leaves' was included as part of the 2018 Raining Poetry in Adelaide street-art project, while several poems were performed for Quart Short Collective’s Spring Shorts reading night. He can be found on Facebook, shares poems and photography on Instagram @bts.adams while poems and politics can be found on his Twitter feed @badbadams