2 poems

illustrations by palomine studios

start over by chuck leary i wish i could live my life over i wish i could start anew i would be a much better person my heart would be faithful and true i would appreciate mama and papa i’d treat bud and sis like folks i would stay away from temptation and never gamble or tell bad jokes oh you may call me insincere but whatever you might think there is one thing i truly abominate and that is the curse of drink you may take all the world’s other vices and roll them up in a ball but all of them together will not equal alcohol you can build up your civilization you can write your high-sounding laws it will all dissolve in the morning mist and drink will be the cause i wish i could live another life although it too would pass i would scorn all evil companions and never raise a glass

pals and booze: a fragment by horace p sternwall the original concept of the pal is lost in the mists of time but i summon it, o muse to invigorate my rhyme let women, priests, and bureaucrats judges, jailers, and fat cats look down their long and pointed noses true pals will always come up roses the only thing better, i confess is pure delirious drunkenness but what are pals, in song or story but those who share in liquor’s glory? oceans ebb and flow empires come and go some win, some lose, but only booze will light life’s brightest fuse and when bright dawn comes pitiless to sneer at night’s now lost excess consider that the coming end may be your best and final friend