CHEAP BEER. By Gwil James Thomas

So, I’m in the kitchen 

playing with a knife 

and drinking cheap beer,  

as I start studying 

the beer can in front of me –

some people get snobbish 

about cheap beer, 

but at 28 céntimos a can 

mediocre never tasted better –

a drip of condensation then

slithers across the side of the can 

like a bead of sweat zigzagging 

down the torso 

of a beautiful woman 

and I follow the drip as it slips 

over the can’s expiry date 

and find myself thinking over 

the last year, 

making a mental highlight reel 

as I go over this and that 

saying so long and looking back 

with a smile – 

then again 

I could romanticise anything, 

even cheap fucking 

beer.

Gwil James Thomas is a Best of The Net and Pushcart nominee currently living in Donostia, Pais Vasco. He has worked as a chef, product demonstrator, aeroplane cleaner, labourer and news article archivist. His two most recent poetry chapbooks are In The Barrel of a Beautiful Wave (Holy&Intoxicated Publications) for sales and inquiries: johndrobinson@yahoo.co.uk and Writing Beer, Drinking Poetry (Concrete Meat Press) which can be found here: https://adrianmanning.wixsite.com/concretemeatpress/publications

Gwil