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Accident
Staggering
Blind Drunk
You collapse
Hitting the concrete
Hard
Sprawling
In the way of night hawks
Soaring
On imported beer
Absolut
And apricot brandy
The patrol car
Observing
Like ritual
Moves on
Leaving you
Crumpled
Called away
By something
Urgent
It must be
No one stops
For the light
or Don't Walk
Sign
Jaywalking past you
Risking the crossing
Without a look
You sleep through it
All
Missing the second and third acts
Your bed unmade
Your dreams
Stillborn
Blood
Vomit
Excrement
Intermingling
The clubs
And jazz spots
Rocking to a different beat
Announce "Last call!"
Sending crowds
Scurrying
Stepping gingerly past
And around
Broken glass
And wreckage
Like some turnpike pile-up
Going unnoticed
In the morning
Near sunrise
The wrecker drives right by
Passing up opportunity
Seeking fancier prey
Some BMW, Jaguar or Lincoln Towne Car
Some big ticket item
Worth the effort
You awaken
Finally
Still drunk
Reaching for some peace
Some eye-opener
Prairie-oyster
Bloody Mary
Or plain old Bud
The street ignores you
Even now
Squatting
Mumbling
Shouting out your demons
While the City struggles to life
Stiffling a big yawn
Passing you by
Once more
Your words tumble
And fall
Making no sense
At all
Incoherent babble
Dementia in extremis
But quarters begin to appear
One by one
A growing pile
As if the sidewalk were some highway
And you
A taker of tolls
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