Alcoholics are considered mentally weak people. To be one means you have spanned the label of social outcasts that can’t self-manage.
After a week off,
staying home,
I walk around the apartment,
picking up wine bottles,
dotting the floor
like bowling pins.
There are beer bottles too
and two empty plastic jugs
from cheap scotch.
I gather them up,
to bring downstairs for recycling,
the bag clanking
the sweet acrid smell of red wine
and the chalky scent of beer
dotting my fingertips
and filling the elevator.
As the doors close
I vow that next week
when we get back to work
I’ll be better.
Because being better is what we do as Americans.
Because this is clearly too much,
too much fun,
too much debauchery
too much drinking.
So I promise that next week,
when I need to get up early
and walk to work and function
as a grown up,
I’ll bring the bottles down
at least once a day
instead of letting them collect
like I did this time.
Americans Are By Nature Generous
He’s on the sidewalk, a table in front of him
filled with pins and tiny American flags.
He waves one as we walk by and says,
“Why is the USA the greatest country in the world?
I’ll tell you,
because we’re generous.
We give.
We keep giving
like we can’t stop giving.”
and I walk past him and think,
that’s true old man.
We give.
We give weapons to children
so they can stab each other on their prom night.
We give defiant self-righteousness.
We give disrespect to each other.
We give away guns to whoever wants them
because this is our land
and our way
and we just don’t feel safe.
We give thanks to a god
who doesn’t exist for saving our lives
and not to the scientist who do all the work.
We give weapons to people in other countries
so they can give us all their oil.
We give our bad bland food
corporate greed
pop star diversions
so that no one pays attention to what we’re really giving.
We give the middle class its walking papers.
We give boot strap mentality
and we blame them for dying poor.
We give surveillance
and we say if you aren’t doing anything wrong
you don’t have anything to worry about, right?
We give alright,
we keep giving
like we’re never ever going to run out
of things to give away
here in the good old USA.
Americans Believe That They Have the Final Say Over Their Lives and Will Not Tolerate the Government Telling Them Otherwise.
She’s been pitching a fit all the way down the street
but still in a very British way.
In fact while there are tears and frowns
she’s still trying to make the only case against bath time
that her four year old brain can fathom,
which is, that bath time is not what she wants.
She isn’t throwing herself on the ground.
No one is down on one knee trying to reason with her.
Her mother pulls her along
not mean
but determined that they are going to get down this narrow
English street as soon as possible.
The older man comes toward them,
he sees the young girl
the tired mother
her face wan
her shoulder’s slumped
He’s worked it all out
and wags a finger in the little girl’s face and says
“You’re being a very naughty girl. Behave!”
He is not quiet and the girl is shocked
stunned into silence,
her mother sighs and says to her, “See. You are naughty.”
and then looks up at the old man
who lifts his hat
and she says softly, “Thank you.”
He smiles at her, his face cheerful,
thankful that he could help out and
everyone moves on their way
except for me.
I’m too shocked that a stranger just
yelled at a child he wasn’t related to
and was thanked for it.
If that happened in New York,
the police would be involved.
There could be possible lawsuits.
I can already hear the
“What did you just say to my child”
and the “Who do you think you are?”
I think about how in less than a week
I’ll be back in America
where in Florida we shoot each for using our cell phones
in the theater.
I don’t know this yet but
shortly after I get home,
I’ll watch the news report
about the boy
who killed the girl
on the night of her prom
for saying no
For daring to say no to his invite.
For choosing someone else.
and I’ll remember that little British girl
and that old man
and suddenly
for a brief moment
I’ll understand
how our need for ownership
and control
and personal freedom
to be
and act
however we want
all of the time
and to enforce that belief
with the weapons we hold so dear
is what makes us
as barbaric
as they say we are.
After a week off,
staying home,
I walk around the apartment,
picking up wine bottles,
dotting the floor
like bowling pins.
There are beer bottles too
and two empty plastic jugs
from cheap scotch.
I gather them up,
to bring downstairs for recycling,
the bag clanking
the sweet acrid smell of red wine
and the chalky scent of beer
dotting my fingertips
and filling the elevator.
As the doors close
I vow that next week
when we get back to work
I’ll be better.
Because being better is what we do as Americans.
Because this is clearly too much,
too much fun,
too much debauchery
too much drinking.
So I promise that next week,
when I need to get up early
and walk to work and function
as a grown up,
I’ll bring the bottles down
at least once a day
instead of letting them collect
like I did this time.
Americans Are By Nature Generous
He’s on the sidewalk, a table in front of him
filled with pins and tiny American flags.
He waves one as we walk by and says,
“Why is the USA the greatest country in the world?
I’ll tell you,
because we’re generous.
We give.
We keep giving
like we can’t stop giving.”
and I walk past him and think,
that’s true old man.
We give.
We give weapons to children
so they can stab each other on their prom night.
We give defiant self-righteousness.
We give disrespect to each other.
We give away guns to whoever wants them
because this is our land
and our way
and we just don’t feel safe.
We give thanks to a god
who doesn’t exist for saving our lives
and not to the scientist who do all the work.
We give weapons to people in other countries
so they can give us all their oil.
We give our bad bland food
corporate greed
pop star diversions
so that no one pays attention to what we’re really giving.
We give the middle class its walking papers.
We give boot strap mentality
and we blame them for dying poor.
We give surveillance
and we say if you aren’t doing anything wrong
you don’t have anything to worry about, right?
We give alright,
we keep giving
like we’re never ever going to run out
of things to give away
here in the good old USA.
Americans Believe That They Have the Final Say Over Their Lives and Will Not Tolerate the Government Telling Them Otherwise.
She’s been pitching a fit all the way down the street
but still in a very British way.
In fact while there are tears and frowns
she’s still trying to make the only case against bath time
that her four year old brain can fathom,
which is, that bath time is not what she wants.
She isn’t throwing herself on the ground.
No one is down on one knee trying to reason with her.
Her mother pulls her along
not mean
but determined that they are going to get down this narrow
English street as soon as possible.
The older man comes toward them,
he sees the young girl
the tired mother
her face wan
her shoulder’s slumped
He’s worked it all out
and wags a finger in the little girl’s face and says
“You’re being a very naughty girl. Behave!”
He is not quiet and the girl is shocked
stunned into silence,
her mother sighs and says to her, “See. You are naughty.”
and then looks up at the old man
who lifts his hat
and she says softly, “Thank you.”
He smiles at her, his face cheerful,
thankful that he could help out and
everyone moves on their way
except for me.
I’m too shocked that a stranger just
yelled at a child he wasn’t related to
and was thanked for it.
If that happened in New York,
the police would be involved.
There could be possible lawsuits.
I can already hear the
“What did you just say to my child”
and the “Who do you think you are?”
I think about how in less than a week
I’ll be back in America
where in Florida we shoot each for using our cell phones
in the theater.
I don’t know this yet but
shortly after I get home,
I’ll watch the news report
about the boy
who killed the girl
on the night of her prom
for saying no
For daring to say no to his invite.
For choosing someone else.
and I’ll remember that little British girl
and that old man
and suddenly
for a brief moment
I’ll understand
how our need for ownership
and control
and personal freedom
to be
and act
however we want
all of the time
and to enforce that belief
with the weapons we hold so dear
is what makes us
as barbaric
as they say we are.