Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Jonathan Adkins - Two Poems


Helluva Night

Don't hold out your hand expecting change from
a man who's never seen the same,
each day passing and each person to blame.

The rain taps at the window and reminds me to be dreary.
Today is not the day to be happy, it whispers.
Pack your bags Mr. Lonely Man
youre headed to the city

caught the northbound 75
and drove until dawn
the motel was cheap
bugs everywhere
stench of tobacco
i smoked a cigarette
and watched the news
helluva night
smoking cigarettes
in some lousy motel
with no ashtray
watching the news
bad people killing
good people dying

helluva night
to be alive.





Bukowski

“Mom, I’m not an idiot.”
She had been off her meds,
I could swear it.
The same nagging voice
As if I was a child,
“Jonathan David, I give you
money and the first thing
you buy is booze?”

What did she want,
An informal letter of my condition?

I apologized for having
a father as a drunk,
And a mother that took
more pills than she could stomach.

She hung up,
And I took another drink.


Jonathan Adkins is a recent graduate of Ohio University.

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