Wednesday, January 2, 2013

For Foy Lanier's


For Three Word Wednesday, prompt words idle, pace, nagging. Also submitted to dVerse OpenLinkNight. Happy New Year to all!

For Foy Lanier’s

The only thing on tap
was Bud or Miller Lite,
sometimes served warm due

to a temperamental cooler;
bathroom stall doors
torn from their hinges

idled against the opposite wall
after some friendly fisticuffs.
The floor slanted hard

to the left, giving
a drunken pace even
to the sober, which we

mostly were, those times
we’d all meet after work to have
a few or a few too many, tapping

out cigarettes and telling lies
about when we were young.
Well before closing time

we’d leave Foy’s to fend for
itself, until we felt the nagging
urge again to drink to health,

good favor, to peace,
prosperity, happy times.
We’ve all gone our separate

ways by now, and today
I noticed Foy’s is just
an abandoned dusty field.

42 comments:

  1. Interesting how people and places change over the years, isn't it? How the places about which we have some good memories eventually decay to dust.....as, I guess, we all will in time.

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    1. Thanks Mary--yes, everything changes with time (Heraclitus was on to something!).

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  2. Nostalgic memories of happier times, when people really believed "If it is not necessary to change, then it becomes necessary NOT to change!". Some fool will talk about 'progress',but modern day 'progress' is nearly all retrograde steps - reducing the joys of life for the sake of 'political correctness' or state 'grannyism'! On my last visit to England I went to my favourite 500 year old pub with my son. In order to enjoy a cigarette with our pints, we had to cram, with 43 other smokers, into a small back garden area, whilst inside the pub 2 smug looking non-smokers tried to make social sense of an empty room. At least Foy's reverted to nature.

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    1. Thanks Leigh--a big Amen to your comment. I'm not much on what we call progress either. I guess I'm well on my way to becoming a grouchy old fart that cannot give up on old ways!

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  3. the passage of time, it gets us all...and those we once were tight with move on...and the places we hung get tore down to put up a wal mart...or a stop light...change hits us when we least expect....happy new year man...

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    1. Thanks Brian, and Happy New year to you also. Hopefully we can cope with whatever changes come our way!

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  4. A happy marriage of place and time rolled up in a beautiful picture of dust and ash...like incense in a sacred place that nestles in your soul and head..i hope we all have a Foy Lanier's to go back to..

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  5. time eats us alive
    might as well enjoy the feast too

    great story -- a baby epic! nicely crafted

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    1. Thanks Sabio--yup, enjoy the feast while you still have teeth!

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    2. Hell, I'll gum my way to the end

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  6. Love the symbolism in the end... Happy New Year!!

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    1. Thanks Laurie--when telling my stories, I try to layer in some symbolism just under the surface. This way it can be read straightforward, or at the deeper level. Happy New Year!

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  7. ah -- looking back it never seems to be the same, no matter if it really changed so much or if we just have the feel that it changed-- here's to a happy new year..

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    1. Thanks Claudia--things usually change way before we actually notice it. Happy New Year!

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  8. I think I may have visited that place or even worked there under another name! Great write......Thank you for the reflection od days gone by. Put to prose extremely well. Love it!

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    1. Thanks Beth--every town needs a Foy's. I remember one barmaid's name, but it was Lacie, not Beth. She was a cute little thing, except for her tremendous mustache.

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  9. I like the reflections of days past. And sometimes I don't want to visit those places in real life as some of them have fallen on a sad state ~ I would rather remember them in my mind ~

    Cheers ~

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    1. Thanks Grace. At least we have the memories.

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  10. Wonderful and very poignant poem - shocking at times to realize things that held a real or even somewhat illusory place in one's emotional life are no more. k.

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    1. Thanks Karin. The present is a chance to make new memories, hopefully as good as the old ones!

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  11. Happy New Year Nico! Nothing wrong with a grumpy old fart nostalgia:)

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  12. I love your bit of nostalgia. Where I live, nothing is sacred: the worthwhile and the worthless are all torn down in the name of progress.

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    1. Thanks Ann. Not only are these kinds of changes happening outside of us, but we are continually making internal changes, shifts in perspective, etc. Sometimes in the process we lose things that should be saved.

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  13. loved the description and ambiance you create; I was saddened by the closing.

    oh, and let me not forget, Happy New Year!

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    1. Thanks RMP, and Happy New Year to you as well.

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  14. nostalgia and sawdust with a bit of spit thrown in . . .
    your simple style is V effective and must appeal to the universal
    reader . . . i know this place and these people and i have these feelings too . . . nice work nico! great timing too

    all the best and cheers (chink)

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    1. Thanks Arron--I am always striving to tap into the universal experience, it's nice to hear that I managed something close to that with this poem. Cheers!

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  15. you captured a nice slice of nostalgia here. calling up memories superbly. You know, I never heard of Foys. I lived in Savannah about a year in total, two times six months each stint. Love that place, still disappointed I never could get into Lady and Sons though, but definitely a place I'd like to revisit again. Strong piece here.

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    1. Thanks Fred, you're always welcome to come on back! Foy's was actually a little outside of Savannah, on Hwy. 80. No more Foy's, but I'm sure we kind find something to make your stay enjoyable.

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  16. Your piece brought back so many memories of finding myself and losing it at the same time. I could smell the beer, the fags and the john! What a great piece of nostalgia.

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    1. Thanks Rob. I'm glad I could spark some memories for you.

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  17. Somethings just shouldn't change, like favorite watering holes.

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  18. terrible how things disappear but they can't take away the memories.

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    1. Thanks Sheilagh--hopefully the remaining memories are good ones!

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  19. Perhaps you and your friends where all that were keeping it financial?

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  20. Replies
    1. I know it--however, the last time I went to a bar for a drink after work, everybody (and I mean everybody) in there was on their damn phones. Couldn't get a decent conversation for love or money. What were they all doing, updating their FB profiles or writing poetry for their blogs?

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