words

cartoons and strangeness fill the hours,
vodka and orange juice, work and money,
sleep and wild dreams, smoke and apathy,
chasing the delirium like a feral dog
with nothing better to do.

i’ll carry these memories in a flask
to tilt back when the loneliness arrives,
the burn in my throat a throwback
to a more delicate time in this history,
quiet evenings and nights like velvet.

i catch flashes of mercury in the air
and i slide quietly through the days
like a good man bent on self destruction,
littering the world as i go about
with empty bottles and empty promises.

-S.C. Martinez