Swing Shift Blues

A poem by Alan Dugan

What is better than leaving a bar

in the middle of the afternoon

besides staying in it or not

having gone into it in the first place

because you had a decent woman to be with?

The air smells particularly fresh

after the stale beer and piss smells.

You can stare up at the whole sky:

it’s blue and white and does not

stare back at you like the bar mirror,

and there’s Whats-‘is-name coming out

right behind you saying, “I don’t

believe it, I don’t believe it: there

he is, staring up at the fucking sky

with his mouth open. Don’t

you realize, you stupid son of a bitch,

that it is a quarter to four

and we have to clock in in

fifteen minutes to go to work?”

So we go to work and do no work

and can even breathe in the Bull’s face

because he’s been into the other bar

that we don’t go to when he’s there.

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Poems in English 

• Poem (The lump of coal my parents teased) by William Matthews by Anglo File
• Beautiful Balmoral by William Topaz McGonagall by Anglo File
• Beautiful Balmerino by William Topaz McGonagall by Anglo File
• Baldovan by William Topaz McGonagall by Anglo File
• Attempted Assassination of the Queen by William Topaz McGonagall by Anglo File
• Annie Marshall the Foundling by William Topaz McGonagall by Anglo File
• An Ode to the Queen by William Topaz McGonagall by Anglo File
• An Autumn Reverie by William Topaz McGonagall by Anglo File
• An All-Night Sea Fight by William Topaz McGonagall by Anglo File
• An Adventure in the Life of King James V of Scotland by William Topaz McGonagall by Anglo File
• An Address to the Rev. George Gilfillan by William Topaz McGonagall by Anglo File
• Adventures of King Robert the Bruce by William Topaz McGonagall by Anglo File
• A Tribute to Mr Murphy and the Blue Ribbon Army by William Topaz McGonagall by Anglo File
• A Tribute to Mr J. Graham Henderson, The World’s Fair Judge by William Topaz McGonagall by Anglo File
• A Tribute to Henry M. Stanley by William Topaz McGonagall by Anglo File
• A Tribute to Dr. Murison by William Topaz McGonagall by Anglo File
• A Tale of the Sea by William Topaz McGonagall by Anglo File
• A Tale of Elsinore by William Topaz McGonagall by Anglo File
• A Tale of Christmas Eve by William Topaz McGonagall by Anglo File
• A Summary History of Lord Clive by William Topaz McGonagall by Anglo File

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