A Well-Kept Pint of Burton 
 
I'm in a pub 
drinking the beer 
that got me writing again.
 
If it was wine, 
with its minute-long aftertaste 
flowing from bitter to hop flowers, 
it'd be worth a bloody fortune.
 
But, being beer, 
it's two pound forty a pint: 
which is pretty outrageous 
for a pub outside London.
 
Actually, 
this poem's 
not about 
beer 
at all.
 
I'm thieving from Bukowski, 
trying to steal 
his honesty, 
his "right here, right now" presence, 
his oh-so-easy working language 
(I wish it was oh-so-easy), 
 
giving something special 
from something rather ordinary…
 
…the beer has it.
  |