Poet's Choice

Salivation without the I.

To hear his sweet talk was to think

You'd gone from rags to riches,

Till going from drink to drink became

Like going from hags to bitches,

Like going from bed to barroom stool,

From stool to bathroom stall,

From stall to sink, from sink to stool,

From stool to hospital.

The monitors beep like pinball machines,

And coldly the IV drips,

And a nurse runs a moistened washcloth over