Kim Nelson: I Really Need You Tonight

The old monitor lights up,
yellow letters against blue:
“‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’
in the style of Bonnie Tyler.”

A cold beer in hand, you’re
commanding the stage,
a six-inch raised platform in
the corner of a divey bar
where you drink away the work week
in increments of $2 PBRs and $5 whiskey shots
until you forget that you’re the
guy from Accounts Payable
who still owes $13,454 on a student loan
for a degree that you never used.

But here, and now, you’re a star baby,
ever since the guy with the fu manchu
handed you a mic
still warm and sweaty from his palm,
and for the next 5 minutes and 32 seconds
nothing else matters besides hitting that high note
and syncing it to a perfect high kick
because this is a place
where dreams go to live….

Turn around, bright eyes.

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