The street although indicated on the official plan of the city still consists of board fences and rubbish heaps One makes one's way only by leaping across at the risk of puddles and mudholes At the end of the unfinished boulevard which powerful arc lamps illumine is the Black Bean Club which is also a matrimonial agency Topped with a felt sombrero or a cap with earmuffs Hard faced The men climb out of their 60-horse-power—on its first trip—sign in consult the picture albums Choose their fiancée who at a cable will board the Kaiser Wilhelm at Cherbourg and come full steam They are mainly German Dressed in black with swanskin hose a boy of glacial correctness opens the door and suspiciously sizes up the newcomer I drink a cocktail a whisky then a second then a third Then a mint-julep, a mother's milk, a prairie-oyster, and a night-cap. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CONTRA MORTEM: THE WATER by HAYDEN CARRUTH THE STORY OF THE END OF THE STORY by JAMES GALVIN |