Space Bar

By Heather McHugh b. 1948 Heather McHugh Read the Q & A

Lined up behind the space bartender

is the meaning of it all, the vessels

marked with letters, numbers,

signs. Beyond the flats

the monitor looms, for all the world

like the world. Images and

motions, weeping women,

men in hats. I have killed

many happy hours here,

with my bare hands,

where TV passes for IV, among

the space cadets and dingbats.

Source: Poetry (March 2008).