Poem for a Chattanooga Night Club, Summer 2017 – Tyler Friend

i’m sitting here at a gay bar in the south & this queen is performing

& she’s dressed like a jeanie & her name is Glistening Goddess

& after the show she comes over to our table & thanks us for coming

& i’m sharing my hushpuppies with a girl in a short short dress

& Goddess says they’re microwaved & I shouldn’t eat them

but I want to & to my left is a man on a wooden pole 

or more like a column really, like structurally significant

& he’s drinking a bud light, but to my right

is a blond woman with an undercut

& her boyfriend & a confederate flag tattoo 

on her shoulder & there’s smoke in the air 

& the sign outside says no loitering by order of the police