A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor

Ron Padgett Poems
Saturday, August 15, 2009



The Drink

I am always interested in the people in films who have just had a drink
thrown in their faces. Sometimes they react with uncontrollable rage, but
sometimes - my favorites - they do not change their expressions at all. Instead
they raise a handkerchief or napkin and calmly dab at the offending liquid,
as the hurler jumps to her feet and storms away. The other people at the table
are understandably uncomfortable. A woman leans over and places her hand
on the sleeve of the man's jacket and says, "David, you know she didn't
mean it." David answers, "Yes," but in an ambiguous tone - the perfect adult
response. But now the orchestra has resumed its amiable and lively dance
music, and the room is set in motion as before. Out in the parking lot,
however, Elizabeth is setting fire to David's car. Yes, this is a contemporary
film.

"The Drink" by Ron Padgett, from You Never Know

© 1944 by Ron Padgett. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.