All our friends hung out
at the Royal Oak,
but you preferred
the dive bar down
at the bottom of Main Street
where you could play
shuffleboard and tease
old men sitting
on worn leather stools.
One night your best friend
from high school
showed up and fed quarters
into the juke box.
She couldn’t hold her
body still, so you grabbed
her hand and danced.
When the music stopped,
she opened her eyes,
and I thought that would be
the end of the story
until I heard her sob
as she raced
into the restroom.
The mirror had its own
tale to tell—
a smear of red on her lips,
fingernails chewed
to the quick.
MICHAEL MINASSIAN lives with his wife in Southern New England. He is a Contributing Editor for Verse-Virtual, an online poetry journal. His poetry collections Time is Not a River, Morning Calm, and A Matter of Timing as well as a chapbook, Jack Pays a Visit, are all available on Amazon. For more information: https://michaelminassian.com
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