Oliver Benjamin
P A R T 4
FIRE
The guest is drunk
and the host, and the boy
and they sing, and they dance, and they laugh
who cares if you’re thirty or fifty or eighty
you bow politely, and he bows, and I
no boisterous strings or mad flutes here to rush us
we drink with the red rolling sun
till he falls in the West
and pound time on our plates and our saucers and bowls
till they break.
Chinese Drinking Song
“Nobody’s worried about people being hurt. They’re just
upset they couldn’t get their coffee.”
— Steve Boe, 34, who works near the North Hollywood
Starbucks that was closed after a stolen car rammed
Through the shop’s window.
LOS ANGELES TIMES, January 16, 1999
311
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