Link to poem: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/179678
Link to Poet's biographical page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Yezzi
The Good News
By David Yezzi
A friend calls, so I ask him to stop by.
We sip old Scotch, the good stuff, order in,
some Indian—no frills too fine for him
or me, particularly since it's been
ages since we made the time.
Two drinks in, we've caught up on our plans.
I've sleepwalked through the last few years by rote;
he's had a nasty rough patch, quote unquote,
on the home front. So, we commiserate,
cupping our lowballs in our hands.
It's great to see him, good to have a friend
who feels the same as you about his lot—
that, while some grass is greener, your small plot
is crudely arable, and though you're not
so young, it's still not quite the end.
As if remembering then, he spills his news.
Though I was pretty lit, I swear it's true,
it was as if a gold glow filled the room
and shone on him, a sun-shaft piercing through
dense clouds, behind which swept long views.
In that rich light, he looked not like my friend
but some acquaintance brushed by on the train.
Had his good fortune kept me from the same,
I had to wonder, a zero-sum game
that gave the night its early end?
Nothing strange. Our drinks were done, that's all.
We haven't spoken since. By morning, I
couldn't remember half of what the guy
had said, just his good news, my slurred goodbye,
the click of the latch, the quiet hall.
This poem originally appeared in the June 2007 Poetry Magazine
In this poem, two men who once had a close friendship have drinks together. The narrator says that it had "been ages since we made the time." This indicates that their friendship was not as strong. At the end of the poem, the friend tells the narrator the good news he has. The next morning, the only thing the narrator can remember is the good news, even though he was hungover. In the poem, Yezzi uses a suave tone as well as slant rhyme. For example, in stanza four he uses "news" and "views". Yezzi uses these literary techniques to convey the overall idea that friendships are not always strong, but one night can be enough to satisfy.
