Proper Names

Words Battered in a Bar

When your eyes
glazed over
was that you or me?

God knows I
would approve of it
if you knew Gramsci,

And did not readily
confuse him with
the “poet” Versace,

An able man
I guess, but not quite
up to the task

Of leading a charge
through the fire of history,
or humanity’s discontent.

You and I should part
as we arrived and look
for something less contrived.

Love may yet
find us—
outside this dive.



TS