Fifteen By Wayne F. Burke

I stepped up to the bar

with a borrowed draft card

from a neighbor

and showed the card

to the bartender who

glanced at it

then at me

as I stood on tiptoes

because I was supposed to be

five foot eleven but

only five foot seven

the bartender did not notice

or else not care

he served me a glass of beer

cost 15-cents

on a dollar I could get drunk

and did

whenever we went "over the line" from

Massachusetts, where I lived--and

the drinking age 21--into New York (18)

down dark winding drunken roads that

each year

claimed one of two of us

but never me, and

I wonder why:

because I was lucky; because

someone or thing looking-out for

me; because the stars & planets

aligned in my favor, or

what?

Wayne F. Burke's poetry and prose has been widely published in print and online (including in THE RYE WHISKEY REVIEW). He was nominated for a Pushcart by THE DOPE FIEND DAILY in 2022. He lives in Vermont (USA).