when you gotta go and can't

finally able to pee
in a public restroom
used to wait
until everyone left

wasted time
combing my hair
adjusting my clothes
washing my hands

or escaping
to the privacy
of a stall
rarely worked
worrying about it
wrenched the faucet

nearly injured
my bladder in Florida
visiting my cousins
their kids a few years
younger than me
daredevils braggarts

Saturday dance
I drank a dozen
or so Zombies
bathroom at the bar
a line of butt-filled urinals
and drunken pissers
the only stall locked

drove 20 miles home
too ashamed to ask
my cousin to pull over
holding onto my piss
nobody knew
the pain I endured
the strength it took