Larry L. Dill's   New Hope Journal   Personal Essays and Public Opinions since 1979
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			Poetry from the New Hope Journal Second Avenue, Upper East Side, Raggedy Ass New York Bar Poem (after Charles Bukowski) The $2.50 Bud pints are ice cold In this dank, musty bar, rhythm and blues on the jukebox, working men, Hispanic, black, white, over-the-hill women, damaged looking faded roses, sweet and desperate. They know themselves and they know these men. The music is good for them.  They sway back and forth on their bar stools, Laughing and joking with the men. The sun shines through the leaves in the trees in the park across the street, casting shadows over the bar and me and my notebook. The wind blows steadily and the leaves wave like little flags and the shadows of the leaves dance to the music, as the women sway and the men laugh and slap each other on the back. The smokers go outside to smoke and back in and back out and they congregate just outside the dirty glass door. I can’t even imagine the woman who would enjoy being here with me now. So I’m just taking in the dancing shadows and the beer and the blues and watching beautiful women walk past outside with their dogs, and ugly women walking by with their bags of groceries, and I’m about as happy now as I have ever been.                                                    --New York, June 23, 2004
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