Thursday, August 27, 2015

squid ink and the whispering shadows two


eyes opened

i walked like

a hunchback

to the bathroom

did what people do

in there

 

made my way

to the coffee maker

poured

tried to soar

 

i saw the empty

bottle of whiskey

i had bought

only yesterday

 

am i really up to

a bottle a day?

 

went to the bank

deposited a royalty

check

hit a bar downtown

my stomach growled

from the neglect

 

i handed the bartender

my debit card

ordered a shot

 

he put a shot glass

and a bottle

in front of me

and walked away

 

does everyone know

i’m up to a bottle a day?

 

i pulled out a paperback

of bukowski’s poems

someone gave me

 

said it would be

like looking in a mirror

 

she wasn’t wrong

 

a poet is the middle of winter

by an ice cold sea

on an overcast day

 

i don’t want to drink

a bottle a day

but i also won’t

leave this bar

until i am drunk

 

i’m suppose to be

writing a play

about a parrot

with a pirate

on his shoulder

 

but all i’m doing

is getting older

consummating my

marriage with despair

 

what will it be like

when the honeymoon

period is over?

 

i think i’m gonna go

down to the ocean

go for a long walk

on the sand

 

hold my writing notebook

like i’m holding someone’s hand

 

skip all the bars

watch all the cars

hurry

until i realize

sometimes

the best thing to be

is a poet on the beach

at midnight

under a moon

that is nothing more

than a cold lifeless stone

but still it can reflect

the rays of the missing sun

and illuminate the whole

landscape of the night

 

***

 

 

No comments:

Post a Comment