I have another one which is a little,
this is a political story.
And everything in this story; I like making things up,
I like invention very much.
But in this story, everything written down happens exactly.
This is completely transposed from life; what I did was
I just left a few things out, collapse
the timescale a little bit.
The plot of it starts I've been playing tennis
with a friend of mine.
And it was a hot day and we decided
we would go have a beer to cool down.
And we walked into a nearby place to have a beer
and there was a TV on and they were showing soap operas.
And they were showing President Nixon
and landing at Miami where there was a demonstration
of young people at the airport.
And the poem goes on from there.
It's called "Beer After Tennis" 22 August 1972.
"The Palms is dank with air conditioning and Dave
and I go in.
On its high perch, the TV shrill is like a parrot.
Steve and Vicki are worried, because Vicki's first husband,
declared legally dead, is back, and he's
the one who gave the police the evidence
to clear Steve of that murder charge.
Another beer, some laundry, pinball.
When you serve from the west side of the court,
the tossed ball grew black and disappeared into the sun;
and you hit where you guessed it would come out.
Another beer.
Nixon gets out of a plane.
1,500 young people, as the TV calls them,
cheer and wave signs.
Praising his wife, he tells them,
"If you want to get ahead in politics,
marry above yourself."
[LAUGHTER]
On cue, they chant; "We want Pat!
We want Pat!"
"You can't have her," he says.
[LAUGHTER]
He's not through with her yet.
Farther down the bar, a young people
pours his beer and stares at Nixon.
[LAUGHTER]
He turns toward us, "Hey, man, is this live?"
It's live.
Dave and I play three games of pinball.
We walk out into the lowered sun,
and the chilled sweaters on our bodies is like a moss.
I let Dave off by Sonia's house and drive on home
to feed my dog.
As the Earth turns, the sun appears to fall."