Tavern

Old men at the end of the bar
explaining why
They can’t go back. It’s not that far.
Mud in your eye!

We never thought that we were poor.
Stakeholder sleaze.
The windows gone, the padlocked doors.
The mayor? Please.

It should have come as no surprise.
It’s like the ground
Was cut away. And no one buys
another round

Jared Carter's most recent book, Darkened Rooms of Summer: New and Selected Poems, is from the University of Nebraska Press. He lives in Indiana. Read other articles by Jared.