words

i appreciate now more than ever
the one who came before
and taught me to drink wine.

not just to drink it,
but how to drink it,
how to enjoy it.

so now, when strangers
in good dress with no humor
come at me with a bottle and say,
“will this do?”
i can say with great confidence,
“just pour it in the fucking glass.”

that is how you drink wine,
that is how you enjoy it;
drink it and speak of other things.

drink it straight from the bottle
if they’ll let you, otherwise,
pretend a glass is just fine.

drink it and stumble and fall,
drink it and knock things over
and break hearts
and make rash decisions,
drink it and forget to pay the bills,
wake up too hungover to move
and go to work anyway.

drink it and smoke cigarettes
even though you quit so long ago,
drink it and make inappropriate phone calls
and stomp through the gentle garden
you’ve worked so diligently to maintain,
drink it and rip apart the world
and all its pointless intricacies.

it doesn’t matter the vineyard,
the age, the bullshit aroma;
drink it, pour it in the fucking glass
and drink it so that i may go on
with the rest of my evening.

-S.C. Martinez