The words the drunk speaks
Are not the effects of truth
Serum, but a vocabulary enebriate,
Pickled in a slurry of barley brine,
The fermentation of fault and gestalt
That eats away at what ails, whatever
Thought, caught or taught. So,
It pours out in the boozy breath
Of what is at the bar sworn, oaths
Far from nothing but the truth, whole
But anything but. Facts distort the stream
Of consciousness soon to be forgot by
Both sayer and listener. The ever-present
Tender has a earful of verdict on tap.
Bruce Morton divides his time between Montana and Arizona. He is the author of two poetry collections: Planet Mort (2024) and Simple Arithmetic & Other Artifices (2014). His poems have appeared in numerous online and print venues. He was formerly dean at the Montana State University library.

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