The Lonely Bartender, by Amanda Gattshall​

A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, by Édouard Manet (France) 1882

The Lonely Bartender

The atmosphere in the bar bubbles and fizzes
like the champagne that flows from bottles to glasses.
People are everywhere; drinking, talking, laughing.
They constantly mingle and share small talk and yet
no one bats an eye at those working the bar.
However, I do. I lost my friends in the shuffle, so
I go up to ask for a drink. The first woman who sees me
approach asks: what’ll it be? with a tired look in her eyes.
I say I don’t know for sure and ask what she likes best.
She’s confused at this answer, looking down at the flowers
pinned to her bosom as if they knew the answer. No one
had asked her that before, I think. A Manhattan should suffice,
she says, as her hands swiftly assemble the simple drink.
I reach into my pocket to give her a tip, and her hazel eyes watch
but she signals for me to stop. It’s on the house, she whispers
as a blush enters her pristine face. I nod in thanks, holding
the drink delicately, and I turn back to the mingling crowd
hoping this woman working the bar gets noticed again.

Amanda Gattshall​

Amanda Gattshall is a senior at Flagler College studying Coastal Environmental Science and Creative Writing. When she is not conducting research out on the water or jamming out to video game soundtracks while writing stories, she also loves playing D&D with her friends or curling up with a good book and a warm cup of tea. She was recently a featured speaker at her college's Baccalaureate Ceremony, and she is spending her last semester as an editor for FLARE: The Flagler Review. To read more of her work, more of her poetry will be in the upcoming Spring Issue of Outrageous Fortune.