Wednesday Night By Tohm Bakelas

I caught a buzz—first one  

in a long time. It felt pretty  

good, but then I remembered 

I had all these things called 

responsibilities; namely: my 

kids and the cat. Figuring 

the cat could fend for herself, 

it was just down to my offspring. 

Seven o’clock rolled around and 

I sounded the alarm: “bedtime!” 

Tiny feet stampeded upstairs  

while I finished making lunches 

and grabbed another can from  

the fridge. After the nighttime  

ritual was complete, I picked  

a book off the top shelf. “Well”  

I said “this is probably the first  

time in America anyone’s ever  

read Bukowski to their kids.” 

They both laughed but didn’t  

get the joke, and so I read on  

until they were asleep. After 

that I went back downstairs  

for another can. It was 8:41pm,  

the house was very very quiet. 

Tohm Bakelas is a social worker in a psychiatric hospital. He was born in New Jersey, resides there, and will die there. His poems have appeared in numerous journals, zines, and online publications. He has published 18 chapbooks and 2 collections of poetry. His forthcoming collection “The Ants Crawl In Circles” will be published by Whiskey City Press in Summer 2022. He runs Between Shadows Press.  

https://tohmbakelaspoetry.wordpress.com

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