Welcome to Funtown
some dates are just dreams
Welcome to Funtown
You are sat along the railing
counter of a new Thai
restaurant and below
the din of the entirely white
waitstaff and the Hawaiian
shirt the bartender has on
you can smell the burn
of the overworked
vibrators living in the apartments
upstairs and your drinks shake a little
like something bigger is coming like
an orgasm is just down the street
driving home in a dump truck
but above the smell a friend waves to you
from the bar and you have not seen him
since he lost his phone and he
says your name and you call him
by his brother’s name and he
ignores it and you embrace
and he is drinking something called Funtown
and offers you and your girlfriend
a sip (it tastes like pineapple and
rollercoasters) so you go
back to your seat and you look
out of the window to see yourself
falling towards the townhall
across the street
that has been illuminated
in holiday light for everyone
to remember it is there
when it is closed and your girlfriend
says that light has never looked
more like sound and you both finish
your dinner in the well-lit silence of good
food and you go back over to your friend
to say goodbye but he is full
of Funtown and does not exist
anymore but you believe
in personalities so you leave full
and warm with your girlfriend
both smelling like chicken
and the outside air
is a dog
cold and hungry
that follows you home
( )
About the Creator
Johnathan Riley
Writing is hard
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More stories from Johnathan Riley and writers in Poets and other communities.
Comments (4)
Nice. Playful and atmospheric, but hits some wistful party-pathos too.
Really enjoyed your poem, Johnathan. It has such a smooth narrative flow to it, a quality that evokes the feeling of dreaming - it's hard to capture a dream and keep the surreal quality of it, but you do it so well and make it seem effortless. Congrats on placing in the contest!
Loved this! Such a great ride! "Pineapples and rollercoasters" - how perfect!
ha. writing IS hard. Or it's just that writing something good is hard. Or that writing something good that people will read and agree that it's good is hard. Man, I don't know. I like your poem. It has thoughtful imagery and construction. It has a "hip-ness" to it that is cool. It reads so well, and sucked me along, like I was in its wake - could really feel the pulse of it.