Powder Burns

Howard Good

I hit him

and when the big man

didn’t go down

or even stagger

I hit him again

with the sap

and his face exploded

and then I reached

in the drawer

for the office bottle

and as if momentarily lit

by the flash of a gun blast

offered myself a drink

and offered him one too

still thinking about

the last time I saw her

a purple night

at the Tip Top Club

she was leaning

against the piano

and churning through

a honky-tonk version

of You Are My Sunshine

the look in her eyes

hotter than a squat

on the hot seat

He lifted his glass

in mock salute

To mysteries he said

through a jumble

of smashed lips

and broken teeth

Bullets of rain

were ricocheting

off the window

And their solution I added

though the words

were lost in the downpour

Christ I didn’t know

where she was

or what the hell

to tell the cops

and knew as the room

spun around

I never would

Howie Good, a journalism professor at SUNY New Paltz, is the author of six poetry chapbooks, including the e-book, Police and Questions (Right Hand Pointing, 2008), available free at http://www.righthandpointing.com/howiegood/ He has been nominated twice for a Pushcart Prize and twice for the Best of the Net anthology. You can visit his Web site at http://apocalypsemambo.blogspot.com/