The Last Waterhole

Take no part in the witch hour night

Of Bacchus fest, eternal quest,

Opened lonely bar, nowhere left to sit,

Snake hip boogie blues,

The carnival of meat markets for a view,

Stood still time and still got closed,

Shark blood bait, 4,000 miles

Sniffing freshness for devourment,

Spent 1 million shekels, guilders, years

Chasing c**k to Hell,

Kicking off and scream filled,

Dragged across yon spinning orb,

With wolves asnapping at my door,

In misty bar smoked tear stained eyes,

Catching spark to recognise,

Another living soul,

The hour of need recedes behind

The point of no return,

Desperation station,

Lazy finger of dialling tone,

With frantic fear of lonesome night,

Hunger pangs for contact,

Love if you want,

An offer built on emptiness,

Few ignore the call,

Bound in Winter, cold inside,

Metallic iron shell,

Whiskey in the jar, my friend,

Drink a courage shot,

Bait the bear, have fun, take care,

I'll leave the rest to you,

Sweet dreams, entwined, upon the night,

Sometimes rivers flow,

Dam inspired open mind

Leads to hidden news,

See what happens is the word,

Strangeness has his way with you,

No-one likes to understand the truth

Beneath the flies,

A quiet beer for old times thought

And Babylon was found,

Time, Ladies and Gentlemen, please.

Reviews

[Eilis]

I enjoy the abstract (sort of) approach to loneliness seeking recognition in the loneliness of others. At least that’s what this says to me. There’s this book called The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, and that title popped in my head as I reached the end here.

Sometimes, I hear about people whose lives are seemingly full and full of a sort of busy-ness that seems it would be difficult to feel loneliness or despair, but then they commit suicide and a sort of door to the life of the mind opens for the world to see. Unfortunately, that mind will always remain a mystery. The end being the end.

There’s a lot of activity here. And it’s not just in the moment, but it also feels like a reflection on the past. Like arriving home after a long journey and facing something maybe unexpected. Whether that something is in feeling or actuality, it’s not easy to say. Perhaps it’s both.

But what is clear is that there is a seeking for some kind of human connection. What is ultimately wanted (something real) seems out of reach, so it feels like the voice is resigned to what is available. A prick in the darkness to remind that the body is still alive.

As ever when I encounter these more cerebral poems there’s a duality of response for me. You have the poetic cred of expressing one of the dark corners of human experience, but also, I find the psychic isolation somewhat painful in the reading. But, I suppose that is a great grace of poetry. It allows us the explore those things and maybe in the exploration send a bit of that energy out and away. To allow a bit of something else in. Hopefully something good.

Another great poem, Gram. Your creative use of language and imagination on full display here.

[gram linski]

a prick in the darkness to remind that the body is still alive, was usually the plan, haha, you saw straight through the activity of the ones that were getting laid to the lonely heart of the ones who weren't, and it was a reflective pint, but human contact was not an issue that night, has been, but I have been a voyeur and like to watch the madness to unfold, then go home alone to write

[gram linski]

and sometimes it was the last thing I wanted and sometimes the two got mixed up

[barleygirl]

I would love to unlock the secret of what makes a poem like this read as if a zooming plane is buzzing my head, rapidly & with repeated swoops. I love that frenetic pace you often write with & this is one of your most pronounced efforts in this regard. It feels like you are streaming all the different trains of thought that could exist in a drinking environment, layering them in such a way that it seems like they all fit together in some wild pathetic way (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[gram linski]

thanks Margie, sure you don't mean dynamic, in your last sentence, haha, glad you enjoyed

[barleygirl]

*wink! wink!* excellent retort!

[HB Rita]

I am not familiar with alcohol or bar kind of things! Thiugh, it is a brilliant writing i felt with great vocabulary and well descriptive. Goid luck dear.

[gram linski]

Thanks for reading,
HB, they are not as bad as they may seem, lol,

[HB Rita]

Ofcourse not. I am just too old fashion. But thinking to try it someday hiding from my Mom ha ha ha! She will get heart attack seeing me in a bar

[Cherrie]

Beware, the strobing neon beacon. For the stench you smell is not grime but last nights patron's. :)
Gram great job what a intense painting you've displayed.

[gram linski]

Thanks Cherrie, I take it you have been in a pub where you have to wipe yer feet on the way out, late night last fight blues

[Cherrie]

I've seen such places. I'm more of a nature lover. But my husband use to do bar checks and at 2am that can be a wild ride downtown.

[gram linski]

Haha, been there, done that, totally have to wipe yer feet on the way out

[Einstein Noodle]

the scene is deliberate and comes across strong for me ..i felt kind of dirty putting me self there ... an after hours bar ... poor lighting outside and in .. the ambiance at the door says i shouldn't enter ;) but i do .. to the smoke and people choked room ... low ceilings with old square wood pillar supports ... too crowded to sit ... but no one is talking ... it like some bizarre Twilight Zone experience ..everyone so wrapped in their own pain ...given up trying to share it ... pretty dismal says i .. but thats what i got ... stretching the bounds of prose/poetry ..disjointed lines and random thoughts and images tho disconcerting ...absolutely contribute to what i saw and felt in this one ..pretty powerful my friend .. especially love those " Snake hip boogie blues," ;) find your voice, my friend ..and never stop writing :))))
E.

[gram linski]

Glad you liked it E, maybe too much information in your imagination, but have a drink on me, and still got laid that night, disinterest is quite horny apparently, lol,

[John Alexander McFadyen]

Reads like word association, I have listened to many a deluded schizophrenic dude ramble in poetic loosly connected dissociated thoughts. Really I have and this is brilliant! The references to alcohol I fully relate to and as a tongue loosening device I have to say it often helps the creative jucies to flow!

[gram linski]

I would love this review apart from the "deluded schizophrenic dude with loosely connected ramble thought," I assume it's some kind of compliment, thank you,

[John Alexander McFadyen]

No it is sometimes amazing what people with delusional thinking will say. Often ignored but often creative if one cares to listen. The compliment was for your own creation!

[gram linski]

Cheers, dude , two jager meisters please,

[Einstein Noodle]

please forgive me for butting in my friends..but John!!! i hear you man...i think that mental illness is not abnormal at all...its just that some people are more sensitive and feel emotions more strongly than is sometimes healthy for them...and much genius comes from the angst and stresses of all that ..you might like this book "Madness and Modernism" by Louis A. Sass ... its a heady book but i was able to glean the basics of what he is saying ..;)

[gram linski]

Excuse me, dude, who the f**k are you, pick yer own poem to discuss with croissants and self despair,

[John Alexander McFadyen]

Sass another antipsychiatry dude! He does have some interesting perspectives on creativity though. Might just read his book though. gram do you have a copy in your vast library?

[gram linski]

Not got a f*****g scooby who this dude is, and if I do have his book then it didn't rock my f*****g boat, I apologise for my ignorance, me Freud and Jung, pick a baby sitter,

[John Alexander McFadyen]

Rolling in the aisles. So are you really SNP then?

[gram linski]

Je suis Anarchy,

[John Alexander McFadyen]

Well figures lol!

[John Alexander McFadyen]

So if yer nae SNP are you really f*****g French?

[gram linski]

Haha, you will never know until it is far too f*****g late, remember the auld alliance, j'adore...

[John Alexander McFadyen]

Wha Widna Fecht for Charlie/
Cam' Ye o'er From France

[gram linski]

lol, heard about the Templar Knights getting banished from Europe, and the only exiled King that would take them on was Robert the
f*****g Bruce check out graveyards for big f**k off Celtic crosses

[John Alexander McFadyen]

History is littered with graves gram

[Chris Shaw]

Remind me not to visit. I've never been one for crowds and to feel this lonely in a crowd must suck. However if you find yourself there, do what Neville said. Make it a double, it will make you forget quicker.

Chris

[gram linski]

Cheers Chris, thanks for reading, not so much all alone in a crowded bar, sad, as all alone in a crowded bar, people watching, with a sad smile in eye,

[Chris Shaw]

Lonely people everywhere

[Neville]

Make mine a double, in a dirty glass why dont'cha... cheers, Neville

[gram linski]

Thanks Neville, sounds like we frequent the same bars, watch out for e-coli from your dirty glass,

[Neville]

Bring it on yeah........

[jacob erin-cilberto]

got there is sometimes such loneliness when being in the middle of a crowd...where no one knows your name or really wants to .
expansive rejection felt here...and reminders of times i spent like this...feeling so alone, wishing someone would touch me with a word or two just so i knew i existed.
j.

[gram linski]

Thanks for understanding, j, you blank the fuckers and it takes them 2 years to realise, lol