Away

The stench of cigarette smoke filtrates the air,

Every inch of oxygen contaminated.

The bottle of vodka dances to some strange rhythm,

My hands shake as I pour it; ice, orange juice lemon.

Either one of you sits where I can’t see you,

The past and the present are for now one,

A cocktail of intoxicating memories, hopes and hopes.

The good guys sit where I can see them. Speak to them.

Be bored by them. The same drink every time.

Both of you change, the seasons effect you in days,

Minutes perhaps and I am left wondering if I

Am the sun or the snow or neither, just a face

And a body.

I am inert, I have no means to move just now,

Content here yet you are away, you move in

Circles, maybe ovals, reappearing at times when

I am a desert then drenched by a monsoon of alcohol,

The silent paralytic in your presence.

But you don’t see, you are wrapped up in

Your solipsism and I remain wrapped in ice.

Uncaring, unnoticing. The barrier of

Sobriety separates us and you are away, away, away.

The phone at the end of the bar

Is not working. Or maybe it just doesn’t ring.

A drop of vodka dribbles out of the empty bottle.

Dry now. Away.

Both of you.

Away.

Away.