Joshua Gage

Drink lots of beer,
and puke it up, if you have to,
but keep drinking just the same.

Buy an old typewriter
or an old computer
or a pencil and some paper
and write until your fingers bleed.

Then go back to the beer,
because there is nothing more poetic
than a child returning to his mother.

Then wake up with a hangover,
piss in a dirty toilet,
or just take a shit,
being sure to let the porcelain
cool your nerves and
leave its mark on your ass.

Then go out and
get a job
get a stamp
get some ass
get a beer

Make sure you avoid all the houses of ill repute
bars, churches, porn clubs, unemployment offices
there misery coats the floor
and you'll have to wade through a swamp 3 feet deep
just to get out the door.

Walk solo on the highways,
or,
if this is too hard
just stay in your cell
soaking your liver
and letting your body ferment in its madness.

Once you begin to sweat 200 proof,
and you're holding on to anything for dear life
go to sleep in the same clothes you got up in
the same clothes you've worn all week.

When you wake up,
Drink more beer.

Beer is your lifeblood.

your lover and your mother and your bitch.
it should fuck you breathless
tuck you in at night
and slap you in the face when you know you deserve every inch of
it
but you're too big of a coward to do it yourself.

Once beer is your second nature,
once you have blood poisoning your alcohol stream
once you have women kissing you just to get drunk
switch to coffee
or cigarettes
or the howling wail of a Gershwin clarinet
or whatever it takes to keep you up at night.

And while you're up, dance with the masters
With Shakespeare, Yeats, Whitman, Bukowski
whatever blows your mind
whatever floats your boat
straight into a hurricane
then brings you to sleep in the eye.

And for Christ's sake,
Watch while you're dancing.
Try to imitate the way your partner
melts with the air
not the scuff marks they leave on the floor.

and when the band slows down
to some ragged tune
you don't particularly care for
don't be afraid to sit one out
and if you don't understand
why a breather every now and then is okay

you're not ready.

Drink more beer.

Time will wait for you to return,
and if she doesn't,
well, that's okay, too.