rock bottom

i meet my friend jimmy at rock bottom
a new bar
in town.

hey, he says.
fancy meeting you here.

shut up, i tell him
and order me a drink.

bitter, he says, laughing
as the bar tender comes over to
pour me

a gin and tonic.

lime? i ask.

hell no, the bar keep says, we're at rock
bottom. but he cuts
a lime anyway
and splashes my drink with it.

so what brings you here, i ask jimmy.
women, he says. and you.

women. too many, the lack of, stupid
women, brassy women,
lazy women.

prudish women. smart women.
cheating no good lousy
women.

lying women. ugly women, beautiful women.
blondes, brunettes, redheads.

sexy women. all shapes and sizes.
i'm sort of sick of them
all to tell you the god's honest truth.

all their women troubles. their emotions.
their moods,
their crazy thinking.

they are impossible to figure out.
they're like goddamn
cats. aloof

and self absorbed.

i'm sick of love.

yeah, he says. drinking from the bottle
the bar tender left on the bar.
me too.

fuck em.

can't live with em, can't, well,
you know the rest.

hey, i ask him, tapping him on his
arm.

who's that babe at the end of the bar,
never seen her in here before?
very attractive.

i think she just looked over here.

maybe i'll send her a drink. what is
that, a cosmo?