DANIEL NESTER
Road House Monologue
The man in fingerless gloves, uncredited, cracks
His knuckles while Jimmy Reno and our new wave femme fatale
Dance around a postbeam. The guitarist-slash-actor
Will always grouse. The blonde doctor will always arrive
In her tablecloth dress. We have this talent for balancing
Stars and support, and there’s always a blue Monday
On a broken windshield. Knifebooted dudes
In Canadian tuxedos strut to generic blues rock,
And we will always smash their knees and they drop
Like stones. Especially when there’s a fire in the night,
Running scared from Alabama. Memphis never had
Anything to do with it. Never been put down,
Not really. We stitch our own wounds
Over cups of coffee because somebody pays us to do this.
A stop sign always breaks through our backseat.
The man in fingerless gloves, uncredited, cracks
His knuckles while Jimmy Reno and our new wave femme fatale
Dance around a postbeam. The guitarist-slash-actor
Will always grouse. The blonde doctor will always arrive
In her tablecloth dress. We have this talent for balancing
Stars and support, and there’s always a blue Monday
On a broken windshield. Knifebooted dudes
In Canadian tuxedos strut to generic blues rock,
And we will always smash their knees and they drop
Like stones. Especially when there’s a fire in the night,
Running scared from Alabama. Memphis never had
Anything to do with it. Never been put down,
Not really. We stitch our own wounds
Over cups of coffee because somebody pays us to do this.
A stop sign always breaks through our backseat.
Daniel Nester (danielnester.com) is the author most recently of Shader: 99 Notes on Car Washes, Making Out in Church, Grief, and Other Unlearnable Subjects. His other books include How to Be Inappropriate, and God Save My Queen I and II, and The Incredible Sestina Anthology, which he edited. He teaches writing at The College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY.