Tag Archives: parties

Festival Day

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Downtown along the river bank
the party has begun;
from miles away the slow parade
of cars and people come

for fried dough or some boudin balls,
for gator on a stick,
for cheap and warm domestic beer
and wristbands that won’t stick.

Across the social register
today the lines are blurred.
The crowd is mixed in all the ways
that make judgments absurd:

the color bar, the young and old,
the college and the town,
those with, and more of those without
than most days can be found

here on the pleasant, verdant shore
against the brick-lined street.
Hello there, great to see you here!
No saccharine tastes so sweet.

For special patrons, private tents
keep out some of the heat;
the rest of us spend hours walking
up and down the street.

The music seems an afterthought,
almost just ambiance;
an ever-changing set of songs
accompanying the dance.

13 APR 2013

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Your Right

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for Merle Haggard

I’m an easy-going guy as far as that’s concerned
I tend to only simmer where another fellow burns
Let live and go on living is the lesson that I’ve learned
I only ask for the same in return

Some fellows look for reasons to get into fights
They claim its just protection of their natural rights
But that’s no call to start a brawl near every night
When I’m trying to relax and just get tight

You’re free to exercise your right to party
You’re free to get real loud and cause a scene
You’re free to get attention by stating your intention
To go through life big, ugly, dumb and mean

This country was built in the name of freedom
and to protect it, I will come to blows
Your rights mean something to me,
but don’t bring ’em too close to me, ’cause
your right to swing your fist ends at my nose.

I’m patriotic, and I’ll wave the flag now and again
My country’s enemies are mine, and its friends are my friends
But there’s a way that breaks, and one that merely bends,
and it looks like you’ve confused them once again.

You’re free to exercise your right to party
You’re free to get real loud and cause a scene
You’re free to get attention by stating your intention
To go through life big, ugly, dumb and mean

This country was built in the name of freedom
and to protect it, I will come to blows
Your rights mean something to me,
but don’t bring ’em too close to me, ’cause
your right to swing your fist ends at my nose.

16 JAN 2006

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Party Crowd

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The dance floor is swimming with fine looking women
and boys on the move or the make
The music is pumping, and this place is jumping
it’s turned into quite a clambake

The whiskey’s been flowing, with no signs of slowing
and everyone’s starting to glow
A hell of a party, Budweiser, Bacardi,
we’re set to play one more great show

There’s nothing wrong with a party crowd
No harm in getting drunk and being loud
I’ve done my share of that; I’m not too proud
To say much more than should have been allowed
But I’m too old for drinking shots all night
Got far too much to lose to start a fight
Just ’cause someone looked at me not quite right …
I’ll take the corner table out of sight.
I’d rather sit and talk here with my friends
And let some nothing slip in my weekend
Maybe a little more, but it depends
On who else is here when the party ends.

The long bar is littered with empties and glitter,
they’re packed like sardines through the door;
and out on the hardwood the ugly, bad and good
are making points and keeping score

Yeah, it’s a great shindig, who knew it’d get this big,
it’s almost not quite in control
Who knows much longer, before this great throng here
makes diamonds from our lumps of coal

Sometimes it’s great in a party crowd
Big fun in getting drunk and being loud
I’ve been the center, and I’m not too proud
To say more often than should be allowed
But I’m too old for drinking Jack ’til two
Much more than one or two and I’m half through,
Too tired to wait all night for a pool cue
And then exhausted, crawl on home to you.
I’d rather sit and nurse a single beer
Make it a hobby instead of career
That way I’m sure at least my head is clear
when this whole party crowd disappears.

Last call was just sounded, the bar is surrounded
with elbows, slurred orders and shouts
While each senorita makes themselves look sweeter
to start weeding their prospects out

One more upbeat number, last test for the drummer,
sing out, sing along strong and loud
Bound up in the action, in the satisfaction
of being in the party crowd.

There’s nothing wrong with a party crowd
No harm in getting drunk and being loud
I’ve done my share of that; I’m not too proud
To say much more than should have been allowed
But I’m too old for drinking shots all night
Got far too much to lose to start a fight
Just ’cause someone looked at me not quite right …
I’ll take the corner table out of sight.
I’d rather sit and talk here with my friends
And let some nothing slip in my weekend
Maybe a little more, but it depends
On who else is here when the party ends.

27 DEC 2005

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After the Opening of La Fiesta

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Laughing and stumbling
like sailors too long at sea,
who suddenly must realign their gravity
to the stillness of shore,
like conquering matadors,
their legs still weak from the thrill
of their toreador jousts,
they returned through the door,
propelled by the smoke
and musky fire of consumed mescal,
their voices filled with the gaiety of life,
exuberant and freed from any commitment
to coherence.

And around their necks,
like Jacob Marley’s shackles,
the emptied shot glass souvenirs
announced their arrival –
not as chains forged
through a long and meaningless life,
but rather a triumphant rattling of swords,
proclaiming yet another victorious challenge
to the still sober.

And then,
with a quick stumble to the waiting stool,
one lights a clumsy cigarette
and laughs,
tossing a collection
of imprinted plastics and colored string
on the bar —
“We came, we saw,
we just had to have one in every color.”

09 FEB 2002

This poem was written after hearing of the adventures of two friends from the local bar who attended a gala opening for a new Mexican restaurant in town. Free Sauza shot glasses, appetizers, and margaritas were consumed in abundance.

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