Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, COCKTAIL HOUR, by MARGARET E. MCINTYRE


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

COCKTAIL HOUR, by                    
First Line: Between the dusk and the twilight
Last Line: It must be upheld, to get by.
Subject(s): Dinners & Dining; Drinks & Drinking; Dusk; Smoking; Wine; Tobacco; Pipes; Cigars; Cigarettes


Between the dusk and the twilight,
As the bridge game starts to get sour;
Comes a pause in the day's syncopation
That is known as the Cocktail Hour.

They file in like so many soldiers
From shopping -- luncheon -- movie, they come.
The fat ones -- lean -- the old ones and young
Those women who never stay home.

They smoke and they drink -- play cards and lose;
They drink -- smoke and gamble and win;
They pause for a cocktail on the way home
These women who want to be thin.

What do they care if the dinner is late?
Let the children and husband stand by;
They'll open a can of this -- a jar of that
From the bakery, bring home a pie.

The buttons on John's shirt are off,
The mending is piled up on high;
But the Cocktail Hour has its innings,
It must be upheld, to get by.





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