disquietingmuses
"Tube" Copyright 2000 Ted WilliamsI Go Bowling
to feel sloppy and unimportant,
to remember to forget that I'm
overeducated and hypercritical.
Tonight I will simply
heave a plastic sphere down the waxed lane
and clear out ten wooden bottles
again and again. I join
unknown men easy in their paunches,
easy as the amber liquid
sliding down their tilted beer glasses.I interrupt my game at any time:
to watch the woman in the next lane,
haunting valley of her breasts
highlighting the V of her halter;
to watch some pock-faced kid drop
dollar after dollar into the pinball machine
as he spanks the flippers
in a blizzard of passion.Tonight my life will be transformed!
I'll be rewarded for knocking things down.
The letter 'X' will no longer mean
crossed-out or rejected
but instead faultless on the first shot.