Seventh St Bar By Holly Payne-Strange

There’s a bar near me I want to show you.  

Sticky floors 

And a whisper of spilled whiskey. 

The kind of place 

You can tell a secret, 

Or a meet a man 

You want to keep a secret. 

I’ll buy you a drink,

Even though it’s your turn.

And we can yell over the music 

That’s always too loud 

And squint in the darkness. 

Actually,

Maybe the bar isn’t that great 

Maybe I just want to see 

You. 

Holly Payne-Strange (she/her) is a novelist, poet and podcast creator. Her writing has been lauded by USA Today, LA weekly and The New York Times. Her  next novel, All Of Us Alone, will be a recommended read for Women Writers, Women’s Books in December 2023.  She’s had her poetry published by various groups  including  Door Is A Jar magazine, In Parenthesis, Dipity Lit Magazine, and will soon be featured in Academy Heart, among others.