David Huddle: Villanelle for Lady Day
Billie said, “If I’m going to sing like someone
else, then I don’t need to sing at all.” Let’s
just say I was white and knew how to conform.
Michael Simms: A True Story of How I Almost Became a Rock and Roll God (with special appearance by Iron Butterfly)
So there I was, jumping up and down on a king-sized bed in an expensive hotel in Miami Beach, drinking rum straight from the bottle. And right beside me, jumping up and down, playing the air-guitar and blasting out his famous song In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, was Doug Ingle.
Michael Simms: The end of civilization as we know it
I want to apologize for walking in
When the dog was licking
Your bald head as you lay
On the couch drinking rum
Straight from the bottle…
Jason Baldinger: A Seventy-Four Dollar Shotgun
two men in camouflage
drunk loud talk, stare at shotguns
Jay Carson: Michael
On his route with a load of papers on his head,
he wasn’t tough enough to scare Michael
who socked him so hard papers flew
like peace doves all over Fifth Avenue.
Lynn Emanuel: Some Notes on Intoxication and Simile
If my mother had not been an alcoholic, I might not have been a poet.
Sandra McPherson: Drunkard’s Path
From the table I selected a Big Book:
“The more hopeless he feels, the better.”
Charles Fox: How Jung’s collective unconscious inspired Alcoholics Anonymous
There was just one hope, Jung said: occasionally alcoholics could recover after experiencing some type of religious conversion. However, he cautioned, recoveries due to a life-changing ‘vital spiritual experience’ were relatively rare.
Jocelyn Elise Crowley: Baby boomers are divorcing for surprisingly old-fashioned reasons
At first, Kathy, 53 years old, spoke to me calmly, but as the minutes ticked away, her voice started to crack. Her husband had a long-standing problem with alcohol. The … Continue reading
Lauren Camp: Still Life with Extinctions
Almost no one else heard it, the bitch, bitch thrown from the line next to me. It was Thursday, and the voice offered its etceteras without saying much else. But what … Continue reading
Robert Walicki: If a Tree Falls
A tree falls does anyone care if it makes it into this poem? A poem bone deep and raw, broken into bark and hanging on to the edge of a … Continue reading
Jay Carson: Luminary
Just in case you think I got screwed up only recently, let me tell you about the fire: My wife in those days was a candle maker as well as … Continue reading
Kate Daniels: Detox
So she wouldn’t judge, she practiced empathy, sitting for months in full lotus, palms open, thumb and forefinger touching to make a small circle she could empty her thoughts inside … Continue reading
