The First Taste of Beer

was enough to make you wretch
you remember how it was
but with time, we learned to savor
you and I, the bitters of the draught
the fond recollection on the tongue
when all was lost.

and life, like beer, it seems
flows equally as sweet, don't you think
from the hollows of the wood
the aging of the barrel
the passing of the mug from hand to hand.

The Judge

The Judge
Sits regally
In his leather-backed antique chair
Deftly spreading the starched-white napkin over his satisfied lap
Preparing to sup
His wine glass filled with a delicate Chardonnay
A man of refinement and exceedingly good taste
His steak is of the choicest cut and must be cooked to rare perfection.

The waiter
Scurrying to be of utmost service
Can't help but marvel:
The classic gold clippers so effortlessly held in that commanding hand
The swift dexterity with which the dignified magistrate
Snaps the trimmings
And sends them flying
Like bullets to the floor.

^

Biography

Laurence Overmire is an American actor/director/writer who has worked on stage, film and television. His poetry has been widely published in the U.S. and abroad, most recently in "Emotions,""Angelflesh," "Maelstrom," "Indie Journal," "Main Street Rag Poetry Journal," "Bardo Burner," "Pegasus," "Mobius," "Footprints," "Vol. No. Magazine," "Lynx: Poetry from Bath," "Poetry DownUnder," "Cotyledon," "Thunder Sandwich," "This Hard Wind," "Jack Magazine," "The Hinterland," "Stark Raving Sanity," "The Inditer," "Pogonip" and "The Oracular Tree."