Page 31--Cigarettes, Coffee, and Beer, Oh Dear--John J. Trause

Cigarettes, coffee, and beer, Oh dear,
remain my diet, the drip drip drip
of a rattled hand and magic wand
my staff of life.
And so I drive drive drive
and expedite
with stains and ashes
through storm and strife
until I crash against the canvas
of life
                                   on the floor
                                                              in a barn



                                                                                   at the farthest point east

of an island and a state
of death in life                             totally totemically
                       crushed in the crash
cras                 s



ly


Note: For Jackson Pollock