This is about one of my favourite places (in blank verse, unrhymed iambic pentameter). When the sun goes down, the poets gather.
Jack’s Café
So, this is where I spend my evenings now;
when darkness draws a curtain on the harsh
and often unforgiving light of day
you’ll find me here, blind-driven by some muse
to smoky rooms where friendly glasses clink,
sweet mellow strings in syncopation call
and tired piano grins its yellow teeth.
Where thin-faced men, intelligent and tense,
aesthetically attired in narrow suits -
their dark eyes soft with poetry and sex -
soliloquize on life and death and love;
where hints of cruelty and tenderness
make lyric verse of loneliness and lust,
and Vettriano figures bare their souls
to sleek-haired barmen polishing the art
of mixing metaphors in cocktail twists.
Here, words alone can dance me through the night,
or even dance me to the end of love;
while amateur philosophers discourse
in rhythm to the tap of shiny shoes
a strange and tender magic weaves a net
of imperfect pasts and fantasies fulfilled;
and all these wordsmiths, billy boys at heart,
adept at finely tuning loss and beauty,
in nightly ritual play the waiting game and
draw me back again, again, to Jack’s Café.
Sounds like an interesting place.
a strange and tender magic weaves a net
of imperfect pasts and fantasies fulfilled;
Like what these lines do to create an inviting atmosphere. I see why you keep going back. Wouldn't mind going to a place like this even just once to see guys.......
mixing metaphors in cocktail twists. (good line)
Makes me wonder what the women do?
Seriously, enjoyed the read. Good job!
Marty
Very good read, Rikki, post more.
Les
hmm what is the address?
Enjoyed it, Thanks
Favourite vivid line :
of mixing metaphors in cocktail twists.
Post Edited (04-11-05 07:45)
Can I have the address? Sounds great. I envy you!!
Rikki:
Outstanding, both in construction and use of language. Well-done!
JoeT
Rikki,
I don't comment much anymore, but I couldn't resist this one. It is as Joe said outstanding,... finely crafted, and a worthwhile read. One doesn't even notice the lack of rhyme.
Thankyou for my first pleasure of the morning.
JP
Hi Rikki, I agree with everybody above, from 'post more', 'bravo' to 'Thank you for my first pleasure of the morning' (amen, JP) and 'the address?’
Quality write and read; fraught with imagery and the atmosphere of the café is intoxicating....love it, thank you. Gwyd
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. (Aristotle)
Superb.
I've recently been blending Vettriano images onto various 3d cups and saucers, which is very cafe type culture imagery.
Yeh sounds heavenly.
Doubt everything. Find your own light.
This is wonderful--exquisite detailing and atmosphere! I'll read it way more than once!
ncw
Oops, this one fell a little...BUMP!
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. (Aristotle)
Thanks everyone for taking the time to read this and for your encouraging comments!
I enjoyed writing this one because it's about an atmosphere/place i love - an eclectic mixture of poets, writers, musicians. Gwydion, jkvanburen, KQ, it's in inner-city Sydney. And Camus, I really like Vettriano's imagery too - that retro elegance and old fashioned sophistication (and those gorgeous clothes).
thanks to each one of you!
rikki
Forgot to ask was "dance me to the end of love" a reference to Mr Cohen?
Doubt everything. Find your own light.
Yes, it was intentional - trying to evoke that 'Leonard Cohen' kind of feeling , a kind of gentle melancholy.
r.
rikki,
Dare I note it sounds more polished than either the Cafe Prague or the Trieste or Tweeties, the cafe and the bar I go to hang every week to hear fine poets,-- where poets still have to contend with mere drunks and Expresso machines that'll curl your toes. I good pome though.
avante,
Peter