In the course of the conversation,
over a cigarette and a Negroni,
he'd expressed his passionate opinion
about a local news anchor,
a state politician,
a popular TV show,
an award-winning movie,
a national restaurant chain,
sauvignon blanc from New Zealand vs. California,
global warming,
a friend,
a family member,
and what the woman in the next booth was wearing.
About all of these,
he expressed his crafted, passionate, unnecessary opinion.

Who had taught him to do this, he wondered,
to carry this burden of knowing,
to take and defend innumerable, unimportant positions,
to aggressively postulate so many pointless points of view?

He was weary,
and knew his weariness.

Text and image © 2011 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.