the Patel brothers and I would be
riding our bikes around
the neighbourhood and we’d spot
Duncan, or Drunk Dunc’
as he was colloquially known -
slouched on a bench, wall,
or passed out in the park grass.
For a while he was in cahoots
with Cider Head Sue,
then one day she’d disappeared
and people said that Drunk Dunc’
had killed her with a chainsaw
before selling her flesh
to the local kebab house for wine -
which of course was utter bollocks.
Our parents warned us to
stay away from him and that,
that was what happened to
a man without a job -
but at the same time Drunk Dunc’
always seemed happier than them,
as he swigged away
and enthusiastically sang songs
from bygone years -
to the point that sometimes
it was as if Drunk Dunc’
was about to heave in heaven -
but what I didn’t know then
was that drinking like that rarely came
without having at least once
taken a detour through hell.
Gwil James Thomas is a novelist, poet and inept musician originally from Bristol, England. He is a Best of The Net and Pushcart nominee whose work has appeared in publications such as 3 Poets, 3AM, Mythos Zine, Paper & Ink, Low Light Magazine, Cephalo Press and also here. His two most recent poetry chapbooks are In The Barrel of a Beautiful Wave (Holy & Intoxicated Publications) and Writing Beer, Drinking Poetry (Concrete Meat Press). He is currently laying low somewhere in Northern Spain.
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