Week 3: Just exhale

A beer on the table
not a fancy beer—not arrogant
a good beer, as good as any other
cool and dripping with the label peeling off
put it to your lips and take a drink
it’s cold and goes down smooth and you like it
now lean back and don’t say nothing

just exhale—
it’s going to be alright.

Author’s Notes:

Short and sweet this week. Just a poem to capture a moment. Makes me wish it was June. I like this length because it’s short enough that you can reread it.

I’m not sure about the double negative in the last line of the first grouping. I like that it cements in place the general provincial vibe, but on the other hand, I don’t personally use double negatives in casual speech often and I dislike it when characters are artificially folksy.

(Sidenote: Double negatives are unjustly maligned. They are a natural part of speech for tons of english speakers and there is nothing grammatically or functionally wrong with them, except when you’re writing mathematical proofs.)

Favorite Line:
it’s cold and goes down smooth and you like it

Least Confident Line:
now lean back and don’t say nothing