Pain Reduction

A hangover is a loss
made in slow motion
with the rise and fall
of a glass emptied
to be filled again.

To promising thoughts
otherwise impossible
as seeing eye to eye
with a vague long
sought after fame or any
unreachable unobtainable glam
model wearing shades looking
away.

It's a day already half over with
The late afternoon sun merciless
as a screw assaulting a jail house
punk because his wife refused him
something he saw in a porn movie.

And you wonder where did
that come from
and then know
and try to change
this lost channel
of thoughts as ...

You seek to erase like this pain
the familiar cure beckons but
your favorite bar's a train away
your head keeps pounding with
a relentless killing rage.

Until the corner liquor store
where are the workers
know you by your first name
becomes a savior.

A fifth of whiskey in a
paper bag works better
than aspirin that will
only muffle with faint glaze
how bad you feel. You take
two deep long swallows before
you are even close to home.
Take another at your front
door and a neighbor looks
at you in disgust. But you do
the same a half hour later
staring at your own
mirror. Half of the whiskey
gone but so is the pain.