I Went into the District Lounge

After Gary Snyder

I went into the District Lounge

in Orange County, California
and drank twist-off capped
bottles of Coors Light
unable to pay for anything else.
My long hair was styled and sprayed
Id left my glasses at home.

Two fuckboys catcalled

as I walked toward the bathrooms.
The attendant inside asked me,
would you like some soap?
That 90s pop song began to play:
Semi-Charmed Life,
and with the next beat
wobbly comrades chorused out-of-tune.

They held their iPhones up like a sacrificial gesture

to the gods of narcissism;
I recalled when I worked at
that upscale grocery store
in the southern Californian suburbs.
The ignorance privilege affords
Americayour stupidity,
I could almost join you again.

We lefttook the highway North

under the eager morning moon
in the splintered shadows of redwood trees
I came back to myself,
to the real work, to
what is to be done.