Vancouver Writing: Patrick Lane
AFTER
(for Pat Lowther)
After the machine on the gypo show
caught his arm in its mouth
and chewed the nerves dead
from elbow to finger tips
he sat in the bar
telling stories for drinks
His best the one about
how he'd lost the use of his arm
changing it every other day
until he ran out of variations
and no one would listen to him
the arm getting in his way
bumping into things
and hanging useless
until the only way
he had of getting a drink
was to lay the dead piece of meat
across the table
and stick pins in it
saying:
It doesn't hurt at all
men laughing
and buying him a drink
for every pin he could hammer in
with his empty glass
-Patrick Lane: Vancouver Soul of a City
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