mexican barmaid. By jck hnry

she’s a student at ASU

studies post-modern American poetry

why?, i wonder

but keep it to myself

her smile genuine and anxious

i tell her i write 

a bit

here and there

my first mistake

at the end of her shift

she shows me pages

and pages

of brilliance

i order a shot patron

to kill the pang of jealousy

when she reads to me 

in a confident voice

i ask for the bottle

we tumble through the night

wandering from point to point

there’s a light on a corner café

in the old part of town

she reads from the stage

to the delight of all

images of longing and hope

escape from poverty

freedom from false persecution

they get her

i take a turn in my semi-sober state

the words fuzzy on the page

images of whores and transvestites

fucking in alleyways

desperation and the sickness of being

the horror of war

death and dying

and beauty lost

no one notices 

except for my Mexican barmaid

we take a cab back to her apartment

and i leave her at the door

there’s too much sadness in fucking

so i leave it alone

jck hnry is a neo-modernist, post-apocalyptic writer, living in the hard scrub of a californian desert.  after a 10 year hiatus hnry is back at it.  recent publications include:

includes publication in Horror Sleaze Trash, Bold Monkey, Red Fez, dope fiend daily and a bunch of other noble zines and journals.  Chapbooks/Books: “Snow in Summer and the Playground is Closed,” “Empty Houses-Kendra Steiner Editions,” “the Downtown Cafe (Erbacce Press),” “With the Patience of Monuments (neoPoesis) ,” “Crunked, (Epic Rites)” and “the Righthand Curve of a Continuous Circle. (Blunt Trauma Press).”  hnry is also editor and publisher of "Heroin Love Songs, V2.0, 7thEd" available now. for more go to jackhenry.wordpress.com.