Tattoo Dream

Sitting alone

A corner table

It is not a fancy bar

Just a dimly lit bar

A bar like thousands of other neighborhood bars

You sit with a pen and tablet

A book of Charles Bukowski poetry

And sip water with a lime

A woman comes over

Says she finds you attractive

Amused at the idea of a woman

Who finds a white haired man

Sliding towards 70 attractive

You offer a chair and ask why

Why she finds you attractive

It is a slow night, she says

And a man sipping water with a lime

and Charles Bukowski for a companion

Is not normal

A little bored and a little curious

You don’t buy alcohol

But if she is hungry you’re buying

You tell her to sit

She catches you staring

Staring at her body art

She shares she started collecting tattoos

Because lovers come and go

And this is a way to make them stay

You spend the evening

Talking of lovers and loneliness

Stand to leave

Promise to return

Sit and talk again

At the door she says

She has another reason for a tattoo

And disappears into the dimness of a dream

12-9-19