Tonight's Poet Corner: Addict

Addict
by Belinda Roddie

Reluctant intoxication leads to
damp sheets, crazed dreams, the
bridge to nowhere rotting as soon
as you set your foot into the ether,
the vapors rising around you,
changing the color of your hair.

The bottle grows hot in your hand,
the music hostile, aggressive, each note
a fist sinking into your soft abdomen,
bending you over like a plastic straw,
sadly drooping from its half-melted glass.

But she hoists you up as you begin
to fall, kisses you ten times, four on
each cheek, two on your lips. The math
is difficult in your addled brain, the air
rough against your teeth. She sets about

undressing you, cleansing you, carrying
you to bed, as the fumes of the night's
temptations wear away, and you hope
that tomorrow, you won't be
so drawn to the drink.