suburban drug dealers
my mom & dad
count out their pills
at the kitchen table
15 pills a day
5475 pills a year
they talk back & forth
like drug dealers
about the relative
merits of each
only this is about
staying alive
rather than
going someplace
inside your head
the cost is the same
as a steady habit
of smoke & beer
but theirs is a legal
raping of the body
& pocketbook
whereas mine
was just a raping
I feel sorry
for those on
fixed incomes
in this country
who have to
go to Canada
to buy cheap drugs
in order to live
dad says
Hey Audrey
l'Il trade 'ya
2 blues for a greenie
mom says
Oh Roger
grow up - got any reds?
husk & chaff,
Willoughby City Jail
it was the first
hangover
in 10 years
I woke up
fully knowing
where I was –
the metal ceiling
above me
was the underside
of a bunk
& bars on
one wall
closed me in
but I had
no bars
around me
anymore -
everything dropped away
like husks from corn
& I stood
cold stone sober
in the center
of the room
a free man
I had hit rock bottom
I needed that
the fantasy
I was living
slid away
& I quit hating
the man I had become
I didn't care
anymore
what happened
to me
I didn't understand
what time was –
all I knew was
that it was NOW
I was happy again
& I was happy again
they asked me
what did I plead
& I said GUILTY
they asked me
if I had anything
to say
& I said
THANK YOU
air plucks
the chaff -
blowing it far away
over the ground
exposing kernels
of truth
I plant these seeds
glad for a
second chance
|
dave pishnery