Friday / 11.28pm / there's a sign by a door / red neon / stutters / Dance / pointing towards the heat / the open legs skinned / towards a dimly lit bar / stretching into / seven tall bar stools in a single row / 5 empty / 2 compressed by lines of sweaty backs spreading into buttocks / tight in conversation resting on the elbows of the bar / my mouth is dry /

a glass of water please /
ice and lemon ? /
thanks / quite a crowd tonight /
not bad for a Friday / ( he gets his drink ) do you like dancing? /
sometimes / (drinks his drink ) you must learn a lot about human nature in a job like this /
it depends /
on what ? /
on who you are /
I'm caught by the conversation next to me / oh tracy it was great / my lips moved lightly across his / his nipples went hard / I could see them through his tee shirt / I peeled it back like a skin / and massaged those tiny buds with my tongue / they swelled in the delicate grip of my teeth / as the waves of pleasure rippled through his body /
oh my god sarah /
everyone else was pissed / singing dumb campfire songs / he started moaning / I could feel his throbbing cock pushing at the zip of his jeans /
oh my god sarah /
if I didn't do something soon he was going to come /
oh my god sarah / what did you do /
I unzipped his pants and the savage beast / stood erect / it's shining surface moisted by saliva / twisted by strings of veins /
oh my god sarah /
pulsing as I worked my tongue into its red head / ripe with blood / excuse me /
what ?
excuse me /
what ?
excuse me /
what ?
excuse me /
what ?
excuse me /
what ?
excuse me /
what ?
(drinks his drink ) I wish I wasn't so stoned /

Friday / 11.28pm / light reclines / darkness opens at the edge of a sky / blue / deep / trimmed with orange / the moon sings / words falling to the city below / fountain / stream / pours down the side of the hills across the darkening houses / the city stretches / the cars with each turn gather / night new born / stars like insects reflected in mirrored glass /

Friday / 11.28pm / Dance / tall red letters / flicker / pointing towards the open door / at the end of the concrete wall skinned with the pasted flesh of posters / ripped in a mess of decayed words and faces / feet / weather bleached legs / beyond the door / a dimly lit bar / stretching into / heat / and the beat of something irish / ajig -a jig - ajig ajig jig / darkness / slipping between the rhythms of Uncle Mick's Celtic All Stars / lingering at the edge of his pulsating cock / firm and ripe / like a cherry rolled around your mouth with your tongue / shining with saliva / guitars / smooth wooden necks / sinew strings taut wet fingers
excuse me /
what ?
can I help you /
what /
you were listening to us /
pardon /
this is a very private conversation /
I know / but I wasn't / I just /
so mind your own fucking business /
yes / I'm sorry /
so you fucking should be / pervert /
(drinks his drink ) I wish I wasn't so stoned / I finish my drink and get up to leave /
and where do you think you're going
says the barman / outside / says I /
isn't the band to your liking sir /
no / I like them /
you like them /

yes / I think they're good /
they're good /
no .. yes / I think they're alright /
I'll pass your thoughts on to Uncle Mick / I'm sure he'll be overwhelmed by your generous critique /
he smiles at me /
I'm hot /
well now / that would be something wouldn't / someone who hasn't danced a step all night / is hot / and him being the same person who thinks the band is ... now let me get this right ... the band is alright tonight /
I take your point / but you see I'm .../
more water sir / ice and lemon perhaps /
( hands him a drink )
no thanks / I've got to ../
we seem to have a situation developing/ do you want me to call the police /
no / I've just got to .../
have a piss sir / I take your point / and I'll keep Uncle Mick informed of the status of your bladder infection /

Friday / 11.28pm / he is perched too high at the thin end of the day / neither day or night / the hills decline / the city stretches out into darkness / a bird flies towards the mountains and the last remnants of the day / black wings between the moon and my shrunken eyes /
Friday / 11.28pm / I turn my back on the bar / and head towards the toilets / hang on minute / I don't even want to go to the toilet / I turn back towards the / if I can make out the door without being / have you ever noticed that in a lot of irish pubs they have photos of famous irish writers all over the walls / staring at you / beady black eyes / grey skin / awful clothes / are you looking at me/ who are you to look at me like that / and you aren't the most poetic people in the world / I've read lots of poems that aren't irish / good ones / and stop looking at me like that / it wasn't my fault / it was a mistake / I don't want to go to the toilet / calm down it's all right / you're just stoned / stoned / okay / stoned / (he giggles ) oh my god / I'm am just so wrecked / I'm fucked / I'm really fucked / ( he giggles some more ) I need a drink / no I don't /

excuse me /
red hair/ what/
are you all right /
red hair / yeah / I'm just admiring this photo of yeats / perched at the edge of this pantheon of sons of the emerald isle herself / on the wall / just up there / next to the sign that says / guinness/ excuse me / I turn towards / do you still want me to call the police/ you'd have time for another drink and a bit of a dance before they arrive/ what is wrong with these people / I don't want to go to the toilet / I'm fucked / it's alright / I'm just bent / stop looking at me you famous dead bastards / I'm not one of your poems / leave me alone / oh god now I really do need a piss/ I turn my back on art / and head towards the toilets / why do I do this myself / I'm so stupid (he giggles ) oh my god / I'm am just so wrecked / I'm fucked / I'm really fucked / ( giggles some more ) I need a drink /

excuse me
red hair / hello again
are you alright /
yeah / I'm just going to the / thought I might have a dance actually / no need to call the police / it was a mistake / red hair / red hair / red hair / red hair / red hair / red hair / disappearing into the thickness / bodies unwrapping their heat / wet skin / boiling to the beat of something irish / a jig - ajig - ajig jig jig / slipping between the rhythms of Uncle Mick's Celtic All Stars / lingering at the edge of I don't know what /

Friday / 11.28pm / he is walking / a brisk pace and a firm pavement for companionship / rancid petrol poetry and a stinking neck-tie of colours strangling the day into darkness / the chill settles in a dirty sweat / locked my door / wound my watch and turned my back on Friday night / drunk with derelicts / vomited into the leather of jackets/ bound in black insulation tape / as the day withdraws into the horizon / behind the motorway bridge / the concrete of the bridge /the fumes / as the sun is squeezed in behind a tyre factory /a line of trucks cars pushing their tired throats / towards night / a city / its edges hazy in the dusk / streets and houses stretched / the heat / the heat / the heat stretches / heat stretches from the dance floor and cradles me in its sweaty embrace / I'm caught at the edge / caught by the sight of red hair / flicking / small beads / sweat / from the tangled ends of her hair / red skin flayed by the rhythm / as she bruises the floor / with her black boots / tightly laced eyelets / running up her calf / towards / her thighs / rolling into / the curve of her hips / sucked into the depression of her groin / stretching up through her waist / driven by the rhythm / 2 breasts / neck / head / eyes / nose / mouth / slipping between the rhythms / bodies unwrapping their heat / beads of sweat flicking from the end of red hair / stretches out into the darkness / Friday / image flooded footsteps / the beat of something irish and ajig -a jig - ajig ajig jig / for katie / the music unwinds / for katie / as uncle mick / moves forward to the mic / for katie / as he addresses the crowd / held in the heat pulses racing / for katie /

I'D LIKE TO DEDICATE THIS NEXT SONG TO MY NIECE KATIE / OH YOU HAVE YOUR MOTHER'S EYES / YOUR FATHER'S NOSE / YOUR GRANDMOTHER'S MOUTH / YOUR AUNTY'S NECK / AND YOUR GRANDFATHER'S CHEST / NO ONE'S PERFECT MY DARLING / AND HAIR LIKE FLAME / STOLEN FROM THE GODS / BURNING WITH THE BRIGHTNESS OF THE RADIANT ORB / IGNITING THE DAY INTO LIFE / AS WE

for fuck's sake uncle mick / don't be such a tosser / you silver tongued charmer / I don't know what to say / particularly since we have a situation developing /

A SITUATION YOU SAY/ YOUNG CATHERINE

yes uncle mick / a situation / developing /

the room is silent / dust settles in the stillness / all eyes turn towards me

Friday / 11.28pm/ I turn away from the crowd / and push through the toilet door/ nestling myself in the safety of a cubicle / what the hell is going on / this can't be just the drugs / who are these people / they're loonies / this can't be just the drugs / my mother told me / " never trust the irish / they're too spontaneous / unpredictable / the type of people who are encouraged by revolutionary slogans" / this can't be just the drugs / didn't I just say that / what's going on/ these people are loonies / my mother was right / it's because they're bloody irish / irish bloody loonies / may be they're all on drugs / but why / what am I doing here / maybe it is just the drugs / that's it / I'm just too stoned / it's the drugs / nothing to do with the irish at all / I'm sorry ma / but I think you're wrong about this one / it's just the drugs /

I grab a piece of toilet tissue and give the seat a wipe / extra shine / extra warmth / a small concession to comfort / to help the buttock muscles relax their grip on life's refuse / drop my pants and settle in for what could a long haul / (pause ) darker passions laying in wait / in the uncertain sanitation / mmmgghh thankless children / whose woe begotten voices clamour at the door knobs of heaven/ mmmgghh they struggle against sense / like a salmon fights its way up stream to spawn / brooding with uncertain sanity / mmmgghh in the heat of something irish/ ajig -a jig - ajig ajig jig / mmmgghh / clamouring at the parentless gate of reason / clenched fists / strike at the red air as the crowd storms towards the citadel / mmmgghh mmmgghh mmmgghh / ahhhhhhhhh a job well done /

(pause - he reads the graffiti on the walls ) hehehehe for a good time don't ring mike / hehehehe / how many men does it take change a nappy / it depends how thinly you slice them hehehehe / back in 5 minutes - godot / hehehehe / how many men does it take to change a light bulb / sure does / hehehehe / wears the soap / sure does / hehehehe / if godot was a woman she would have left a proper forwarding address / hehehehe / if godot was a woman - she wouldn't have been there it the first place / hehehehe hehehehe / how many men does it take to change / hehehehe sure does / hehehehe / sure does / for a good time ring - paula / hehehehe hehehehe / paula / hehehehe hehehehe / paula / hehehehe hehehehe / I used to know someone called paula / she wasn't much fun / no - she was alright / she had a slight limp / hardly noticeable really / she seemed permanently on a angle / very thinly sliced / hardly noticeable really / hehehehe back in 5 minutes - paula / hehehehe back in 5 minutes - paula /

( he laughs a lot at this thought and then stops abruptly / )

someone has just entered the cubicle next to me / the rustle of clothes / the distinctive clatter of pee hitting the side of the bowl / hehehehe hehehehe / god i'm so poetic at times / I must be irish / a satisfied sigh / smooths the fetid air / alas we are brothers in anonymity / locked a world of closeted sounds and disembodied smells / that really is quite poetic - deep in the truest sense of the word / I really must be irish / better not tell mum /( he laughs a lot at this thought and then stops abruptly / ) the pathos of my situation stopped me short / lingering at the edge of an unseen presence next to me / crushed by an all too tangible barrier that keeps us apart / locked in isolation / by the violence of civilisation and rough cast concrete separating us / my cheek rests against the side of the cubicle / I close my eyes / and imagine the shape of the man next to me / neck / head / eyes / nose / mouth / bruised into submission by the propriety of manners that keeps us apart / a tear runs a solitary track down my face / it falls from the edge of my face / lingering before it dissolves in to the urine soaked floor / I'm tired / so tired / the sound of my own breathing / gives way to that of my neighbour / I'm tired / tired of reaching out into the darkness / for a good time ring paula / i'll ring paula / she was fun / well actually she wasn't much fun / but you never know she might have changed / unlikely / but you never know / she might be on new medication / I'm tired / so tired / I feel myself slipping further down the wall as my thoughts descend into the pitiful dribble of regret / I'm tired / I'm so tired / what am I waiting for / who am I waiting for / I'm so tired / so tired

hello /
a face pops over the top of the cubicle /
hello/
it's smiling /
hello/
it's katie /
hello/
red hair / we stare at each other /
hello/
I know you / your name's katie /
how are you /
what /
I said how are you /
I don't understand /
I'm really hot / I sweat so much when I dance / I have to drink heaps of water / but it makes me want to pee all the time / it never
rains it pours eh! /

I like ice and lemon /
I know /
you've got red hair /
I know /
I'm glad / it's important / to have real red hair / otherwise it's / false and that would be bad / ( pause ) your uncle's an interesting man
he is / he's got a pilots license / I can see your willy /
what are you doing here /
I was about to ask you the same thing / I can still see your willy /
does it bother you /
no / I've seen lots of men's willies / all sorts of different shapes and sizes / so the novelty has rather worn off / but appearances aren't really the issue / it's what you do with them / isn't it /
I suppose so /
no supposing about it / I know so / take it from me / where you stick it / how you jiggle / in -out in - out / out and in / it's basically a handling issue / and I can still see your willy by the way
well stop looking /
well that's the point isn't it / I am looking and you seem to have it rather firmly grasped for a Friday / strangulation is still a crime as far as I know / so we're back to the question of what you're doing here /
what am I doing here / what about you /
I was having a pee /
so was I /
we all saw you come into the woman's / and realised you must be
a pervert /
the woman's? /
I mean the woman's toilets / you could hardly keep your eyes off my friend's tits at the bar / isn't that right Sarah /
stuck like glue they were / katie /
that was a mistake /
didn't look that way me / practically had his head buried in my cleavage /
oh my god Sarah /
oh my god /
and I saw it all from behind the bar / could hardly believe my eyes / you learn about people in a job like mine / and I tell you katie some of it you don't want to know /
and then you couldn't keep your eyes off me on the dance floor / the saliva was practically pouring out your nose /
I think you got the wrong end of the stick / I was just looking at .../
are you going to wank / because if you are we'd like to watch /
I've never seen a man jerk off before / I'm interested in what turns you on /
oh my god sarah/
is it just being in the ladies that does it / or is it hearing a woman piss that gets you going /
I'm really turned on by people's teeth / especially crooked front teeth /
and people with grey eyes /
that might seem rather boring to someone like you / but it's the difference between men and woman / I suppose / ( pause ) we're waiting /

YES LADIES AND GENTLEMEN WE'RE WAITING TO SEE WHAT THE PERVERT'S GOING TO DO NEXT/ ARE YOU READY TO COME YET / WE'RE WAITING / YOU'VE GOT PLENTY OF TIME / IT'S NOT QUITE MIDNIGHT YET /

it was Friday / 11. 28 pm / I looked down between my legs / the depression of my groin folded into darkness / I could feel myself falling / into the blackness / from deep inside the dark / came a steady flow of mud and shit / filling the cubicle with its thickness / swamping the toilets and pushing me up against the ceiling / the roof of the bar broke open / as the flow of excrement and earth / flowed into the street / I lay paralysed with fear riding the heavy wave / as it devoured the city scape / burying all life in its path / pushing me ever closer to the stars / into the empty coldness of space / I came to rest under a pale moon/ I lay bathed in its silver light / the surrounding mud drying into a fine dust / freed by gentle wisps of wind / a delicate mist / tinting the light with ethereal red / glow / my eye was caught by a flicker of colour to my left / a single leaf pushing its way out of crust of earth supporting me / splitting into 2 and then 4 / multiplying its form into a perfect dome shape / flecked with autumnal hues / it breaks free from the ground / and lifts into the air / slowly turning as it soars towards the moon / spinning and vibrating the air in a kaleidoscope of colours / the heavy crust / beneath begins to pulse / cracking as violent eruptions rend its surface / I gave a cry as the world fell out from under me / and plummeting towards the heat / I burned away in the fire ball/

turning towards the / night / flicking / red / neon of dance / I'm hot / fuck I'm hot / I need a drink / I wish I didn't sweat so much / tall and hot / the rhythm/ red and wet/ the heat stretching out towards dark hips / I'm hot / lemon slipping between salt lips / hot salt lips / I'm too hot /sweat runs down the back of my neck / towards lips smoothed by the dark tongues / I'm skin / the rhythm runs down the small of my back / the sweat runs down between my hips / wet clothing / skins the beat of something irish / a-jig a-jig ajig ajig jig

/ unwrapping lemon and salt rhythm / sweat between lips / salt skins waiting / tongues between tight lipstick / we smile / don't lick your lips / heat slipping between hips / waiting / stretching out towards lemon tight lipstick / don't lick your lips / we smile / wet skin salt dry lips / we smile at each other / katie / the bodies slipping / in the thickness they boil / tasting the beat of something irish / don't lick your lips / a jig -a jig ajig ajig jig /

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