At the Bar

I sip
scotch neat.
—— play chess;
laugh at
blunders.
—— reset
the board;
make new
mistakes.
—— exhale.

At the
next
table,
four kids
drink shots;
explode!
—— compare
accomplishments;
grow loud
—— make plans
to win.

I want
to say
Lao Tzu
says: “Time
doesn’t
matter.
—— demons 
are friends;
there is
nothing
lacking…”

But what
do I
know of
things.

I sip
more scotch.
—— move a
bishop
out of
the way.

— WILLIAM WATERS 

William Waters is an associate professor, in the Department of English at the University of Houston Downtown. Along with Sonja Foss, he is coauthor of Destination Dissertation: A Traveler’s Guide to a Done Dissertation. His research and teaching interests are in writing theory and modern grammar.