Long Barkeep Poems

An early wintry storm hit late last night on this date, September 11th, 2035. There was strangeness in the air like a stale aftermath of partying.  Frigid. Strange that people still celebrate Freedom Day...

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Trifolium pollinated courtesy bombus

Before landscapers mow swaths
across undulating waves of clover
(the father/daughter team
usually cut grass every Tuesday)
bumblebees alight from one to another flower.

Meanwhile, I lie splayed
mid morning June 28th, 2022
with stomach upon natural carpeting
quietly basking...

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The Tale of Billy Flynn
Billy Flynn looked skyward
As the fire slowly died
The embers dancing gaily
They had a hard days ride

He looked down at the fire
At the coals and their red glow
"Better get them horses covered"
"The...

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The road was long, the night was cold,
A stranger walked into the town.
His coat was torn, his hat pulled low,
His weary eyes fixed on the ground.

The streets lay still, the lamps burned low,
Behind locked doors,...

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V.
He could hold his breath over a minute,
bullets hit water, didn’t penetrate it,
he’d used this trick before against his foes,
water stopped slugs fast, not many did know.

When he rose again the demons were out,
so Sol...

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I.
He was riding south from Boise,
having split from the other men,
they’d got together for this job,
would not see each other again.

It was much safer doing that,
thought Reg as he sat on his horse,
made it harder...

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I miss the nuances of daily life
while weeks are frozen in this quarantine.
I miss the lost normalcy of my days
in all aspects, obvious and unseen.
I miss turning my head to read the spines
of the novels...

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The Long Trail © by Trisha Sugarek

The Circle Heart brand on the wet rump rippled
as the horse shivered with exhaustion
the sun lost its battle with night and 
dropped behind the far peak

Chaparejos, worn thin and...

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...If this was Heaven, it made little sense,
would not they get newcomers all the time?
How could this seem so bizarre to their mind?
Wouldn’t this have to have happened to them?
I just sighed loud and shook...

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AT THE NEON OF NIGHT

That night closed when the café did
With all the secrets a star once hid
There was the whisper of a woman’s woe
And a man with nowhere else to go

Two souls shunning the...

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apologies to Robert W. Service
There’s a tale that is told
In the night Yukon cold
Of the shooting of Dan Mc Grew
The truth as it’s known
Is a legend that’s grown
And the truth is known by very few

It’s...

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There's a tale that is told
In the night Yukon cold
Of the shooting of Dan Mc Grew

The truth as it's known
Is a legend that's grown
And the truth is known by very few

It's twenty years on
The Malamutes...

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This stool is so comfortable at the end of the bar
Never needing to look up, the barkeep knows my request
With the bills sprayed out before me, the drinks keep coming

Quietly, I would sit at Jake’s...

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It was the "Old West" and the town dusty
When in on his horse came a galloper named Rusty.

He ran into the saloon and shouted aloud
"Big Red's a Comin'" ... which stunned the crowd.

They started to...

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on behalf of the little guy
deep behind enemy territory
welcome to the nameless republic
all good capitalists want a monopoly
all good physicians need you sick
the National Antidote Party broke down the door
I told them everything I know
so...

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I stroll into the bar one night, pausing at the door
I smooth these luscious locks back, start to strut my stuff
I see all the ladies looking at me, clearly wanting more
I’m pretty damn perceptive, they...

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In an Old West Town of no repute
 Came a rider on a horse as if in hot pursuit.

  Into the saloon he ran and shouted aloud
"BIG RED'S COMIN' "...which brought down a shroud.

Out...

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Edit 

	EIGHTH AT EIGHT 
    
While walking when the southern wind changes in my direction
and become nor-easters such as a festering infection
I have not a choice but to go where my worn...

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Lefty Jacobs pushed through the doors,
he wanted a drink, nothing more,
after long days out on the trail,
a ride so hard his horse had failed.

He’d had to get out of Roystown,
to many lawmen going ’round,
he had...

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A June Night in Rotgut Saloon


In walked Lefty Red behind him lay many dead
into this old dusty town his tired horse had tread
Well known his draw was quick as lightning 
his stare deadly cold and...

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Early in the morning when the air was lying still
A ladybug was right outside, on my window sill.
"What the hell you looking at? I hope you get your fill. 
Get on you little redhead, go...

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Complaining of his marriage for thirty-odd years
He highballed his eyeballs, comforting his tears
The barkeep asked, what's troubling you son?
He poured out his life; I'm finished! I'm done!
The woman I married has turned into a nag
What...

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KNOW HER FIRST

I’d liken this hypothetical bar with any bar you’ve ever been into where a man ain’t a man 
until he’s done a few shots
I mean everyone in that damned place had the hots
As...

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we had pillow eyes from the start


                            ...

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The poker game wuz progressin' purty well 'til Iron Mike started a ruckus!
Seems he had some spare aces up his sleeve, that dirty, sneaky cuss!
One-Eyed Pete didn't cotton to them shenanigans and drew his forty-four!
Iron...

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