Forever's Requiem

by Jalina Mhyana

may there always be a dive bar named "forevers" outside the main gate of misawa air base, japan; off-duty soldiers diving into booze, diving into women; may there always be kimono-clad models sprouting permanent marker moustaches and tits on sapporo beer posters under a drunk G.I.'s hand; may there always be pickled eggs on the bar and yen dollars tacked to the walls scribbled with the names of lovers; piss in the corners; the sweet, warm smell of it like new cut grass; couples fucking each other in the bathroom; the walls wobbling and thrusting, little holes for peeking through so we can chide and giggle.  may there always be bad karaoke; drunken soldiers finding meaning in every wrong word they sing; meaning it more with every kamikaze bowl they drink, 500 yen a pop; five straws sucked by five people till the booze runs dry, and no one over twenty-five but me and you and that girl with her tits flopping about; may there always be tits flopping about; secret touching behind people's backs and sweet home alabama on the stereo; may there always be G.I.s in puke-strewn bars arm in arm singing about some sweet home somewhere in america; diving into booze, diving into women; filipino chicks pole-dancing the length of married men's legs; may there always be women who know how to grind like that; the ones with bad dye jobs, the assless, the ones too fat for their half-shirts; smokers with serrated smiles.  may they all kiss and grind like that, drunkenness loosening their tongues and clothing till the booze runs dry; may there always be married women, divorced, widowed women finding heaven in the bathrooms, their husbands blown to bits a million miles from america a million miles from japan; may these women smack and kiss the drunken soldiers for their wives who aren't there; may there always be women who know how to kiss like that, for the women who can't or won't, and the husbands who welcome it; the sweet piss-smelling home of a woman's body blossoming in cramped bathrooms, walls wobbling and thrusting; dreams of other girls a million miles from america a million miles from japan; drunken soldiers finding meaning in every wrong word they sing.