3566. EVERYTHING AT ONCE, AND THEN NOTHING AT ALL

EVERYTHING AT ONCE,

AND THEN NOTHING AT ALL

I've learned elixirs that come no more,

the green bottles in the old liquor store,

the stuff that no man drinks. Each bottle

comes with a wick. Out front, salacious and

dazed, a few gnarly old drunks are passed out.

-

Up above the decrepit doorway, a bare old

bulb keeps burning - 60 watt, maybe 75; the

proprietor of the liquor store says 'it's been

on now, steady, for 6 years, never a moment

off, never skipped a beat.' Then he goes on,

about bulbs  -  how what kills them really is

all that on and off. The surge of each new

current blasts through them and takes its toll.

-

I'd settle for anything, I realize now. If I'm

willing to sit here and listen to him, I might as

well pass the time drunk. Like the bums, coarse

and passed out before me : wizened in the teeth,

spitting out the lips, in need of a shave, foul,

drunk, stinky and dumb. Everything at once,

and then nothing at all.