Pool of Humanity

I was uptown one day getting out of my car
when I saw three men walk into Peabody’s Bar.
One was Christian, the second an Orthodox Jew,
and the third was a Pagan named Marty Milieu.

(I can specify this since I talked to them all
bending elbow and shooting nine games of eight-ball.
It was diverse opinion with drink and with pool,
and it was to their credit none squandered their cool.)

First the Christian and Jew suffered similar doubt,
though they both managed to put their message about.
One promoted the new being blatantly bold,
while the other regarded his pitch to be old.

Marty grinned like a Cheshire cat set to prevail
as he broke and the cue ball slammed into the rail.
So he put down his cue stick and tipped a Bud Lite
and engaged Orthodox on the left and the right.

Orthodox played the Pagan but didn’t go far
as the light in the room dimmed like a dying star.
So I called out to George who had just come inside;
I informed him the three overhead lights had died.

Then Milieu and the Christian began a new rack
and at first it appeared I would have to step back.
Marty made a massé* and the cue ball did weave;
I admit that I found the shot hard to believe.

Since Milieu was the winner, it was Orthodox
who then came to the table but not for peace talks.
So they warred as the solids and stripes went ker-crack,
while the juke box resounded the Beatles’ Get Back.

Orthodox banked the seven right into the side,
(both approached near the wall but they didn’t collide.)
Then Milieu teased by saying, “That’s all that you got?”
yet was shocked by a marvelous up and down shot.

Christian rose and watched Milieu like Mosconi² make
a back-door two ball combo amid a weak break.
Orthodox offered Christian a subtle high five
though he promptly miscued but found ways to survive.

Some contention arose over dogma and creed
or the absence of faith where the self-righteous plead.
But all three realized if they just let it be,
then the value in people is easy to see.


40 Lines
Writer’s Cramp
3-23-13

*mas·sé  (mä-sa)  A stroke in billiards made by striking the cue ball off center with
                            the cue held nearly verticle, so that the cue ball moves in a curve
                            around one ball before hitting another ball.

²Willie Mosconi was a famous American pool player.