soft hands run over couches, chairs
cracked voices offer a name--alcoholic
desperate and streaked with age

awkward without the wetness
that allows us to forget

instant gratification has met a wall
in hand is an absence of excuses and a wrinkled receipt

$you trash.00
$owe them.00
$owe me.00
-------------------
$a better time.00

whoever said sobriety is clarity
denied
twelve steps down the church basement
and the suddenness of a fog