my phone call with larry. by John Gochalski

hey kid it’s me,

larry says on the other end of the line

let’s not mince words

you like cheap scotch

and i like cheap cognac

but let’s not make this about us, he says

okay, i tell him

larry says, i want you to know
that women aren’t worth it

believe me when i say that a piece of ass is fleeting at best

okay, i say

if i’ve learned anything in this world, larry says

it’s that i’ve learned nothing except that everything is misery

he says, this ain’t no life, kid

two divorces and medical bills

a daughter who wants a tummy tuck

and breast augmentation surgery at thirty-five

larry says, i mean what the fuck?

i don’t know, i tell him

two rooms and a shared bathroom, he says

food stamps and government handouts at my age

larry says,

if it weren’t for my grandkids

i’d buy a gun and do myself in

i’d take some motherfuckers with me, you know?

things are tough all over, larry, i tell him

you just drink your scotch, kid, he says

i’ll drink my cheap cognac

and may the wolves of the world

leave you and i in some kind of peace

i don’t say anything to that

hey, kid,

are you still there? larry asks.

yeah, i say

good, he says

because, you see, i went to the doctor the other day

and he says

well….

he seems to think

that it’s something about my liver.

John Gochalski is a writer whose poetry has appeared in several online and print publications including:  Red Fez, Rusty Truck, Outsider Writers Collective, Underground Voices, The Lilliput Review, The Main Street Rag, Zygote In My Coffee, The Camel Saloon, and Bartleby Snopes.  He is also the author four books of poetry The Noose Doesn’t Get Any Looser After You Punch (Six Gallery Press, 2008), Glass City (Low Ghost Press, 2010), Starting with the Last Name Grochalski (Coleridge Street Press, 2014), and The Philosopher’s Ship (Alien Buddha Press, 2018).  I am also the author of the novels, The Librarian (Six Gallery Press, 2013) and Wine Clerk (Six Gallery Press, 2016)