Marc Carver’s most recent poem to appear here was “Watcher” (June 2016) 

Four Men in the Pub
By Marc Carver

In the pub three men
sit at a table in front of me.
They have a beer in front of them
and all of them have lighted faces
as they all stare into their phones
as if they were looking into the oracle’s eyes.
I can’t help but think
they could have saved themselves a few quid
and stayed at home.

One of them eventually breaks the trance and talks
to a big guy sitting at another table who is also on his phone.
They talk about all of them being on the phone.
These three leave
and the big guy goes up to the bar
and starts shouting
The barmaid sways away from him
and the woman manager comes over.
She does the same and shrugs her shoulders,
he throws his arms about
but she still shrugs her shoulders

He sits down
and then a woman comes in and he starts to kiss her and hold her.
I can’t hear the words, but I know what they are saying.
“I was surprised you called. I thought you said we were finished. I thought you didn’t want the baby.”
“Come on, baby, you know me. I am headstrong. I didn’t mean it.”
They sit down together in each other’s arms,
his loneliness is gone
but his problems have not.