all those big words

by Justin Hyde

you're up here
and everyone else
is down here,
she said
staggering her hands
mid air
between our bar stools.

she said
it was the way
i watched people:
took everything in.
and where did i
learn all those big words?

she parked her car
on a side street
a few blocks
from the bar.

there were two kid's seats
in back.
she pulled one out
and tossed it
up front.

afterward

i stumbled
four blocks home
to a sleeping fiance
who was similarly
deluded.