Fucking Cheers

I really appreciate

Midday drinkers

Disregarding the stigma

And just being real

Not pretending to be

Anything but

And the regulars --

Takes one to know one

But it is Friday

And Florida is flooding

And the world is burning

And I need a good buzz to

Knock myself out

Removed from Monotony

To be still in

The Moment

Beating down the past with

Broken pipes and

Pushing away the future

With the force of Fear

The Now is all I have

It is all I ever wanted

And it is more than enough

But they keep playing Johnny Cash

And sorrow creeps up on me

From under my barstool

With its melancholy aura

Still sticky and warm

From the last customer

And the despondent fog

Wraps his arms around me

Too tightly and I choke

So I ask for another shot

To numb my mind and

Loosen his grip on

My weakened emotions

I chase it with beer and

I am back on track

Staring at the hipster

Wearing a bun and a smirk

He is two seats down

And he loves his iPhone

His puckered responses

For the bright screen

Tell his story or

Maybe it is his pants

Perhaps they are too tight --

I try so hard to

Forget the sadness

It haunts me with

All that I have seen

And felt

But it resonates

Endlessly

And it is all around me

Despite their grins and

Their fat green wallets

My empathy moans and

My tears have such force

But I want to

Dance on this bar

Turn up the jukebox

And call myself by another name

But youth has abandoned me

And I am accepting the truth

As I drink

Faster and heavier

I watch the cars pass

Their determination humbles me

Delusion tells me

They must have more purpose

Or someone who really loves them

Must be waiting for them

But I know the real verity

We are all the same

Trapped in different lives and

Different circumstances

But troubled just the same

Looking through glass smeared with

The fingerprints of our existence

Painted with frothy pints and

Motivating words of false prophecy

Emptiness luring its patrons

To fill up like

The dealer on the corner but

We are bargaining with ourselves

To get high enough

To hover above for a while

Until strength (or obligation)

Drags us back down