The Friday Poems: ‘Pissed by 11’ and ‘The man talking’, by Sam Hunt

New verse by Kaipara poet Sam Hunt.

Pissed by 11

Neither pop-inner

or house-guest,

I prefer an early-opener,

patrons pissed by 11:

the rest of the day

the blur it always is. . .

Some people say

“Come and stay”

or others, “I thought I’d

just pop in” . . .

I’m down at the Shamrock,

and it’s blurring.

This is what loneliness is,

this is how perfect it is:

no one at the door;

or opening their’s, insisting.

The man talking

The man talking at me

asked how I was?

I told him, stressed and depressed.

He never heard.

I think he thought I’d said

I was doing just fine.

Which in some sick way

made me feel a lot better.

I thanked him for not listening.

Sam Hunt, 2017