Tyler Gillespie

On the dance floor he yells      I think I have
a drinking problem.   Summer of Rihanna’s

“We Found Love    in a Hopeless Place.”

My monthly night at the gay bar
because honey   I can give up drinking

but I will never give up   dancing.

He wants advice    of which I have little.
It’s like:   Can we ever really know how birds fly?

Science screams: Yes!    We already do.

OK, science, but has knowing how they fly    helped us grow
wings  so we can do the same?    Science gets quiet.

Birds call in the morning   to let others know they survived
the night.   Tell him: Let’s talk tomorrow    when you’re not drunk.

The sun rises & rises  but he never calls.

 

Tyler Gillespie is the author of Florida Man: Poems (2018) and the forthcoming nonfiction collection Florida Men & Monsters.