By: Ian Fletcher

They bump into each other
after thirty-five years
at the funeral of a friend
from university days
whom cancer has taken
from the world too soon.
They’re both staying over
so have arranged to chill
that evening over a beer
or two for old time’s sake.
A couple of pints downed
brings on the reminiscences
of those wild oats sown
in the misspent youths
of their imaginations
that in truth were nothing
but on-campus capers
of callow souls lacking
the courage to ever leave
the straight and narrow.
After three they feel at ease
putting quite out of mind
their broken marriages
the indifferent children
their stalling careers
and looming old age
while losing themselves
in the haze of the past.
At closing time their
five-pint bonhomie knows
no bounds for all seems
right with the world
as they shake hands
and depart anesthetized
into the dead of the night.

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Born and raised in Cardiff, Wales, Ian has an MA in English from Oxford University. He lives in Taiwan with his wife, two daughters and cat. He teaches English in a high school. He has had poems and short stories published in Tuck Magazine, The Ekphrastic Review, 1947 A Literary Journal, Spillwords Press, Dead Snakes, Your One Phone Call, Schlock! Webzine, Short-story.me, Anotherealm, Under the Bed, A Story In 100 Words, Poems and Poetry, Friday Flash Fiction, and in various anthologies.