A Hang Over Poem

Drinking at a friends house
(Ari’s is like a haven)
(For stupid drunk nights.)
Girls will arrive soon
(I said girls not women purposefully)
But I am drunk
Too drunk to understand
The possibilities
(I’m always too drunk)
(Or too sober)
(And alone.)
I hear sex
From a bedroom
(Very loud moaning sex)
Down to two girls now
One for Ari. One for me?
(They are not pretty.)
Dark blurry vision
My car driver’s seat.
Sunlight.
I sit up slowly:
No shoes, no keys
(Vomit here and there.)
Ari appears in the driveway
Cautiously looking at me
(We stare at each other for a moment)
(Like strangers thrust together)
(Isn’t that what all friends are at first?)

“Let me get your things
Don’t come inside
My parents are freakin out.”
He says almost whispering.
“You were so fucked up dude,
O my god. You were stumbling
And puking out here.”

“I don’t remember.”
I say somberly.

He goes inside
Comes back with my shoes
My phone, my keys
Were in my car door.
As I take my things
I think: how does he do this
So god damned well?
(And leave.)

Honestly, all this
Is quite simply because
I’ve been searching
For someone to help me
Rewrite my life’s story
But I only find bottles
And lonely mornings
Hung over days
Where I sleep in baths
And after that
Vomit repeatedly
Only to go out
And do it all again
(Until there is nothing)
(Left.)
© Liam Elliott 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Primer Uniform

Primer Uniform
In these waning hours of days
Winding down like old toys
I am a soldier with a green beret,
Plastic rifle held at forty-five,
And paint chipping off my uniform.
The other toys are in similar shape:
Plastacine villages melting in the acid rain;
The town clock has slumped sadly over,
Our military is stuck in the mud
On our front lawn pointing canons at leaves
And twigs blowing evasively in the wind,
The zoo is shut down due to a rare
Strain of STDs that spread
Throughout their population
Shortly after a holiday celebration.
But days continue to wane down
Until nothing is left
But the ash from your cigarettes
And the realization
That the once brilliant vibrant uniform
You donned day and night
Has chipped and faded
Revealing drab primer.

© Liam Elliott 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Also, check out what A Blinking Robot did with this. With my permission of course.