James A. Clark

While She’s Tending Bar

Bono comes through the speakers
singing about mysterious ways
as she mixes her many potions
with careless liquid grace,
and I think she’s perfect—
until I catch her from the corner
of my eye, sweet-talking some suit,
putting on a phony Southern Belle,
bird-dogging the tip jar,
and then I know for sure.

James A. Clark earned his BFA in Creative Writing at Stephen F. Austin State University and is currently working as a professor of English in Nacogdoches, Texas.