Loki

Loki

They said he lived on the beach
He lived somewhere anyway
But they said it was the beach
The nightclub as opposed to the tree
Draped decorously over the bar
Leering sideways at the crowd
Favouring individuals with glances
Suggesting sardonic wisdom
Or twisted underpants
Late at night he would go for a dip
Jostling his way into a corner
Flailing flaky chlorinated hands
Choosing a table with disgraceful care
Perching on a round side-stool
Beaming at bland student faces
Sidling into conversation
In deprecated hushed pronouncements
We never knew the next bit
But within twenty minutes
An awful fight would break out
While he padded away forgotten
Sadly shaking his bemused smile
As a counterpoint to breaking furniture
The bar received him warily
Served his next jack with cold eye
Week after week the anger built
Also the pile of broken swedish pine
Afterwards he was warm and forgiving
And that’s what really rankled
Put his forgiveness somewhere dark and private
Where he won’t like it the consensus ran
But though observed far and beadily
He never went into the toilets
Though he was often spotted leaving them
Such was his sly delinquency
Detractors met and swore oaths
Fanning ire into blossomed wrath
A bad tipper to boot and foreign
After his last night they came after
A crowd followed him home
But the beach was wild and empty
Only a tidemark on a boat
Salt scuffed with cuban heels
Gave sign to futile assailants
As they gazed out needled at the stars
While the waves turned their backs
They returned to town and tarmac
Beat a tramp on the way back
As these people will
And never spoke of him again
Though the damp patch on the wall
At the end of the formica bar
Would never go away as he had
They kept his shadow to the last though
Until the spring of ’93
When it was hidden behind
A new fruit machine
Which provided some diversion
Od und leer das meer.