The Alcoholic Love Poems

The Alcoholic Love Poems

1.

Alcohol is a drum
calling me, Alcohol

calls me. Sometimes
it's so hard

not to hear
that drum. Sometimes

it's so hard
not to dance.

2.

You told me once that the best sex we ever had was one winter
night in February after I had spent the whole day drinking. I made
love to you drunk, during the blackout, and can't remember any of
it. After you told me, I wanted to know if I had used another
woman's name, not because I loved someone else. I wanted to know
because my imagination always increased when I was drunk and
wouldn't be surprised to discover I had used some movie star's
name. But no, you said I whispered your name all night, even
after I passed out, whispered your name with this mouth,
sour with beer and the old lie about never drinking again.

3.

Is alcoholism genetic
or conditioned? I ask

myself as I weave
through another reservation

maze of treaty
and unrequited love, find

a bottle of vodka
and a box of commodity cheese

at the end, call myself
an ordinary victor, another

victim of science
and its necessary research.

4.

My hands shake sometimes
because I love you
and other times
because my body remembers
detoxification
so I ask you not to drink
beer, whiskey, vodka
before you come to see me. Please

brush your teeth, wash your hands
if you must have even a little
because I was never as strong
as I wanted. The taste of alcohol
even in the slightest of kisses
will make me forget who I have become.

5.

The difference between need and want must be explained. I quit
drinking 450 days ago. I quit drinking 450 days before I quit you.
Then, driving downtown today, I saw that same old Indian wino
who must have borrowed a thousand quarters from me over the
years. It was the fifteenth consecutive day of sub-zero tempera-
tures and the old Indian wino was wearing a stocking cap with
the price tag still attached. He bought the damned cap instead of
booze and I bet you that cap cost exactly the same as a bottle of
Thunderbird wine.

6.

Just moments after meeting
you, I needed
to say,"You're exactly
the kind of Indian I would love
to get drunk with."
But I've been sober

for two years now. All I said
was,"When I used to drink
you're exactly
the kind of Indian I loved
to get drunk with."

Oh, all my life
in the past tense.

Sherman Alexie...........from The First Indian On The Moon