The Good Life

The Good Life

by Bobby Byrd

—after playing basketball on Tuesday night

Down at the Pine Knot Junior
on Yandell Street
the Mexican lady says,
You got pretty eyes.
I believe anything she says.
Muchas Gracias. Yo tea mo.
She laughs and blushes.
Me too.
She sells me and my friends
Big Boys of Beer
—16 oz. of Busch or Old Milwaukee
in a mason jar for 80 cents each.
Plus tax.
On the TV the Braves play the Astros.
Jose Cruz is an old man.
So is Nolan Ryan.
So am I.
So are most of my friends.
It’s almost October, and nobody cares.
The Astros were done for last month.
We sit outside instead.
The sun goes down over the mountain.
Saturn is hung right next to the moon
between two pink clouds and the twilight blue sky.
Yeah, that’s right.
Eternity.
Texas is like this sometimes.
Not all the time.
But sometimes.
And that is usually enough.


Posted over on El Paso Flavored Poetry