An Altercation with Eighties Hair

I sat on a stool with my back to the room,
sipping a draft beer and watching the Red Sox
on the flat screen mounted behind the bar,
when a woman screamed, “Don’t look at me,
you arrogant asshole. Keep it to yourself.”
I turned around to face the commotion
then realized the comment was aimed at me.
An older woman with skin like rawhide
in a Mötley Crüe t-shirt, with bangs teased
high by hairspray snarled at me, clenching
her fists, her jaw set and back teeth grinding.
Not knowing this woman, I said nothing
and shrugged and turned back to my beer.
She obviously confused with someone else.
“I saw you looking at me in that mirror,
thinking your shit don’t stink, you pussy.
If you got something to say, say it,” she said.
So I shrugged again and moved to the end
of the bar where there was an empty stool.
Somehow I knew if it came down to fists
I would lose to a woman with teased bangs
and a penchant for the music of The Crüe.

Nathan Graziano lives Manchester, New Hampshire, with his wife and a pug named Buster. He is a teacher, journalist and the author of eleven books of poetry and fiction. His most recent collection of short fiction, A Better Loser, was published by Roadside Press. For more information, visit his website at www.nathangraziano.com.