What Beer Can Do
Shine my buckle, baby, he yells in my ear,
pulls me tight against him,
and two-steps me around backwards,
sloooooooow, sloooooooooow, quick-quick
one body with too many feet
we stumble, no gliding here
in the Big Tent of Nashville North,
just tired river silt and dirty
tarmac that trips our best intentions,
the bitter stain of crap beer
on my loosened tongue,
sweaty cologne of drugstore cowboys
with undertones of puke,
sloooooooow, sloooooooooow, quick-quick
the whole place as surreal as
the bucking bronc named Luscious Bubbles,
and the fake breasts on full neon display.
Up on Centre Street a billboard admonishes
that good girls keep their calves together
but I dance my way through bad covers
and worse jokes,
slooooooooow, slooooooooooow, quick-quick
my thighs spreading against his,
my belly polishing that buckle.
~ Dymphny Dronyk
Dymphny Dronyk is a writer, editor, mediator and mother. She is passionate about the magic of story and has woven words for money (journalism, corporate writing) and for love (poetry, fiction, drama, mystery novels and songs) for over 25 years. Her first volume of poetry Contrary Infatuations (Frontenac House, Quartet 2007) was short listed for two prestigious awards in 2008. She is also the author of the memoir Bibi – A Life in Clay (Prairie Art Gallery, 2009).
With Edmonton poet Angela Kublik, she is the co-publisher of House of Blue Skies, and co-editor of the bestselling anthologies: Writing the Land – Alberta Through its Poets (2008) and Home and Away – Alberta Poets Muse on the Meaning of Home (2010).
Dymphny is a founding member of the RE:act Art & Community Together Collective, and currently serves as the President of the League of Canadian Poets National Council.
With Calgary’s inaugural Poet Laureate, Kris Demeanor, she is co-editor of The Calgary Project – A City Map in Verse and Visual.
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