A Poem by Matthew DeGroat

……

You Should Probably Date Me

…..

I like coffee

and breezy

twenty three degree

weather

I dislike mutant

viruses

and injustice

and money

……

I like money

and sex and whisky

in abundant moderation 

…..

my perfect first date:

an international airport

a gin and tonic and a lime

a smoking section

a reclining seat with some

extra legroom and some

Dostoevsky to make me laugh

then and a kiss

on the neck with 

the smell of 

the ocean

and you

…..

nights in nights out

a cozy five hundred year old pub

with outdoor seating (of course)

you’re active 

I’m funny

you’re contagious 

I’m recovering 

anxious 

nauseous 

five foot eleven

middle-aged

angry and disappointed with myself 

…..

probably allergic

to your cat

……

This poem is from the book Now We Drink Alone In The Dark by Matthew DeGroat (Finishing Line Press) and can be found at https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/now-we-drink-alone-in-the-dark-by-matthew-degroat/

Set against the backdrop of humanity’s dwindling days, Now We Drink Alone In The Dark is a meditation on the existence of the plagued and the hopeful; on human resilience in the face of dizzying madness. DeGroat’s #poetry reads as part travelogue and part journal; park black comedy and part avant-garde ramblings, touching on themes of love, loss, depression, american politics, life across the pond, pandemic one night stands, and laughing while crying.  A collection to be revisited time and time again, this is the first book of many from DeGroat that will continue soothe the reader’s soul, as we collectively approach the precipice of time.