Franklin Park (fka New Bar on St. John's and Franklin)

Wish the music was better though....me no likey the bartender's IPODS.

They were playing some kick ass old R&B there last night around 10pm.

I finally made it to FP last Friday, it's a nice place. I'm glad it's in the neighbor-hood.

The horse and the mule live 30 years.
And nothing know of wines and beers.
The goat and sheep at 20 die
And never taste of Scotch or Rye.
The cow drinks water by the ton
And at 18 mostly done.
The dog at 15 cashes in
Without the aid of rum and gin.
The cat in milk and water soaks
And then in 12 short years it croaks.
The modest, sober, bone dry hen
Lay eggs for nogs, then dies at 10.
All animals are strictly dry:
They Sinless live and swiftly die;
But sinful, ginful, rum soaked men
Survive for three score years and ten.
And some of them, a very few,
Stay pickled till they are 92!!!!

Arnold Silcock´s

^ well put.

along those lines (from: archy and mehitabel. btw, archy is a cockroach who writes poetry.)

archy interviews a pharaoh

By Don Marquis, in "archy and mehitabel," 1927


boss i went
and interviewed the mummy
of the egyptian pharaoh
in the metropolitan museum
as you bade me to do

what ho
my regal leatherface
says i

greetings
little scatter footed
scarab
says he

kingly has been
says i
what was your ambition
when you had any

insignificant
and journalistic insect
says the royal crackling
in my tender prime
i was too dignified
to have anything as vulgar
as ambition
the ra ra boys
in the seti set
were too haughty
to be ambitious
we used to spend our time
feeding the ibises
and ordering
pyramids sent home to try on
but if i had my life
to live over again
i would give dignity
the regal razz
and hire myself out
to work in a brewery

old tan and tarry
says i
i detect in your speech
the overtones
of melancholy

yes i am sad
says the majestic mackerel
i am as sad
as the song
of a soudanese jackal
who is wailing for the blood red
moon he cannot reach and rip

on what are you brooding
with such a wistful
wishfulness
there in the silences
confide in me
my perial pretzel
says i

i brood on beer
my scampering whiffle snoot
on beer says he

my sympathies
are with your royal
dryness says i

my little pest
says he
you must be respectful
in the presence
of a mighty desolation
little archy
forty centuries of thirst
look down upon you

oh by isis
and by osiris
says the princely raisin
and by pish and phthush and phthah
by the sacred book perembru
and all the gods
that rule from the upper
cataract of the nile
to the delta of the duodenum
i am dry
i am as dry
as the next morning mouth
of a dissipated desert
as dry as the hoofs
of the camels of timbuctoo
little fussy face
i am as dry as the heart
of a sand storm
at high noon in hell
i have been lying here
and there
for four thousand years
with silicon in my esophagus
as gravel in my gizzard
thinking
thinking
thinking
of beer

divine drouth
says i
imperial fritter
continue to think
there is no law against
that in this country
old salt codfish
if you keep quiet about it
not yet

what country is this
asks the poor prune

my reverend juicelessness
this is a beerless country
says i

well well said the royal
desiccation
my political opponents back home
always maintained
that i would wind up in hell
and it seems they had the right dope

and with these hopeless words
the unfortunate residuum
gave a great cough of despair
and turned to dust and debris
right in my face
it being the only time
i ever actually saw anybody
put the cough
into sarcophagus

dear boss as i scurry about
i hear of a great many
tragedies in our midsts
personally i yearn
for some dear friend to pass over
and leave to me
a boot legacy
yours for the second coming
of gambrinus

archy

Sorry for not reading all six pages of this thread before asking this -- I'm at work and only have a couple of minutes to post -- but it sounds like they don't serve food here, right? Do they allow you to order delivery or anything like that? I'm trying to organize a group of friends to go there tomorrow afternoon and am trying to figure out whether we should stop somewhere for lunch on the way or whether we might be able to chow down once we're in the garden. Thanks for any info anyone can provide.

they don't have food yet. they totally let you bring in food from the outside world - people call in orders and go and pick them up/have them delivered. I've had pizza, indian food and chavella's there so ... yum!

AWESOME. Chavella's food and a nice crisp beer sounds PERFECT. Thanks for the info!

Thanks, thanks, thanks, Sweet Tea and Sneaky for having the patience and taking the time to post a poem. Much appreciated.

I finally got to check out FP tonight. It's a great addition to the neighborhood.

I usually make my way over here at least once a week. Usually I hit up The Gate in Park Slope and then go to Franklin Park on the way back home. I might start just doing FP though. The Gate's got the best beer but its getting overcrowded, especially if I want to sit outside and write, and FP's outdoor section is nicer.

I just noticed the grill in the back corner of the courtyard. Does anyone know what the deal is with it? Do they break it out on weekends?

If they broke out a grill, that's gotta be a totally new addition.

It wasn't being used and honestly I can't remember if its been there before or not. Near the sign on the wall by bar (roughly on the other side of the bathrooms) is a big, backyard grill though. It makes me wonder...

I think the grill is new. I saw it for the first time on Sunday but that is also the first time I have been there when it was still light outside.