The Beauty of a Morning Drink By George Gad Economou

pouring a drink at 4am reminds you you’re fucking alive; 

the city sleeps and you’ve got nowhere to go tomorrow—

or even if you have to get up and at it in two hours—

you pour it, tell yourself it’s your last (like the previous three were),

have a swallow, light a cigarette, 

within the rising sheaths of blue smoke you encounter withering smiles,

you hear sweet nothings from dissipating voices. 

you recall you are, indeed, alive. whether you punch the

keyboard or just listen to good music 

or breathe in the silence of the night,

you can breathe. that’s the magic; every new drink

brings you closer to the truth.

George Gad Economou holds a Master’s degree in Philosophy of Science and resides in Athens, Greece, doing freelance work whenever he can while searching for a new place to go. His novella, Letters to S., was published in Storylandia Issue 30 and his short stories and poems have appeared in literary magazines, such as Adelaide Literary Magazine, The Chamber Magazine, The Edge of Humanity Magazine, and Modern Drunkard Magazine. His first poetry collection, Bourbon Bottles and Broken Beds, was published by Adelaide Books in 2021.