El-Oh-Vee-Ee-Oh

Last night I went to the local pub to take a mini adventure away from
our little cottage on the hill

Here, I was surrounded by glowing Olympic TV screens
Tourists dressed in red sweaters and scarves
And the local dogged out crowd
Drunk, stupid and lovely

One dude in particular was trying his best to alienate people
Barking sexist, hateful comments while slurping his drink

i kinda felt at home, having come across many like him in the restaurants and bars I’ve worked in for most of my life.

A friend of his apologized to me for his behavior
Told me to ignore him and not take it to heart

I wasn’t
In fact I looked straight into his eyes and smiled

He tried to threaten me
Told me he could straighten me out
Fix me
I told him I didn’t think that I was broken (which is a lie) and laughed

Holding and flexed
Ready for some abuse
I waited
He had nothing for me, surprised to see someone looking in on him

When we were left alone on the deck
I asked him
“What do you love about life?”
I enjoy asking people these kinds of questions
Especially at seedy pubs
Where I’m usually scribbling into my journal
Making plans and promises for tomorrow
And they are drunk and playing pull tab bingo

And so this dude looks at me
There is a pause
And he says
“Fingertips”
He said
“I love that I can look at my fingertips and in an instant they are gone and then they are there and then they are gone”
And
“That is what I love the most; that I can be aware that I am.
I love my fingertips. They are everything.”

And he started to laugh and smile and told me I had a nice ass.