the premature rich imitating vacuous celebrity
binge-drinkers with smart-arse comments on t-shirts like ....
"Instant Dickhead: just add alcohol" ...shit for brains
to be nurtured for the future
to be forgiven for their trespasses, time and again
indulged to the hilt by parents with or without guilt
re-inventing words like "cewl" while spewing out their guts
in binges of alcohol that fuel inchoate rages
beating to a pulp the bloke who accidentally bumped into you
or who you imagined had a go at your sheila
the ubiquitous phone camera recording the drunken act
of a young couple coupling on a lawn at a backyard party
or a broken glass rammed into an unsuspecting face
for the most petty reason
alcohol is like a friend but an insidious one
we welcome it into our homes to imbibe it with ...
relief or glee or release or a sense that we deserve it for our labours
but, we don't know how it will behave when it's in us
it can improve or destroy our relationships sexually
make conversation stimulating or horrible
it's our companion at births, marriages and deaths
haunts every increment between love and lust
confidence and cowardice, reason and mindlessness
"There's a whole lot of truth in an empty bottle" .....
Boozing has always been a part of our culture since white settlement
barter or payment in rum was the go then
while there's nothing positive that extolls alcohol
perhaps we can encourage moderation .. by the carrot and stick
and beat this scourge that makes the young paralytic
who, as they grow older, only perpetuate the horrible cycle among their progeny
that results in the wired jaw, the broken teeth, the bloody face
together we can change this egregious part of our psyche together ... and we can
1 comment:
Congrats Bernie. What a ripper! You tell it as it is, and you infuse it with added interest - your own, unique brand, of vitriolic passion/sarcasm. A great exposé on the binge booze culture.
I particularly like the metaphor: "There's a whole lot of truth in an empty bottle". What a gem! (would make a great title for a country song). It deserves a place in the dictionary of famous quotations. To me, It sums up the message of your essay. It also reminds me of another analogy of booze as the "truth serum" - it definitely unlocks inhibitions. And as you so poetically put it - that's the problem.
Perhaps the difference between today's bingers, and previous generations, is that, today they seem to be getting younger.
I'm not sure though, that I can agree with your final statement: "together we can change this egregious part of our psyche"
Lets face it, alcohol has been around as a problem since the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. And we have learned nothing from our past mistakes, because it's in the nature of the beast to trick our thinking.
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