Swing Shift Blues – The Poetry Monster

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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Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus

Talking Writing Monster’s Page –

Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh

Poems in English

On The High Price Of Fish by William Cowper by William Cowper
On the Grasshopper (From The Greek) by William Cowper by William Cowper
On The Death Of The Bishop Of Ely. Anno Aet. 17. (Translated From Milton) by William Cowper by William Cowper
On The Death Of Mrs. Throckmorton’s Bullfinch by William Cowper by William Cowper
On The Death Of Damon. (Translated From Milton) by William Cowper by William Cowper
On The Benefit Received By His Majesty From Sea-Bathing, In The Year 1789 by William Cowper by William Cowper
On The Author Of Letters On Literature by William Cowper by William Cowper
On The Astrologers (From The Greek) by William Cowper by William Cowper
On Receiving Heyne’s Virgil From Mr. Hayley by William Cowper by William Cowper
On Receiving Hayley’s Picture by William Cowper by William Cowper
On Receipt Of My Mother’s Picture by William Cowper by William Cowper
On Pedigree. From Epicharmus by William Cowper by William Cowper
On Pallas Bathing, From A Hymn Of Callimachus by William Cowper by William Cowper
On One Ignorant And Arrogant (Translated From Owen) by William Cowper by William Cowper
On Observing Some Names Of Little Note Recorded In The Biographia Britannica by William Cowper by William Cowper
On Niobe (From The Greek) by William Cowper by William Cowper
On Mrs. Montague’s Feather Hangings by William Cowper by William Cowper
On Miltiades by William Cowper by William Cowper
On Late Acquired Wealth (From The Greek) by William Cowper by William Cowper
On Invalids (From The Greek) by William Cowper by William Cowper

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Dealing Monster

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Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees

Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.

Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.

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Alan Dugan (1923 – 2003) an American poet, a contemporary classic of American poetry.

Tagged 20, 21, aboutbeer, Alan Dugan, American, americanpoetry. americanpoems, Americanpoets, Brooklyn, contemporary, englishlanguage, modern, New York, poetryinenglish, USA, XI, XX