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Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Message in the Bottle (Prompt: Message in a bottle poem)

I drained the first bottle
looking for the message.

It was fun,
but I didn’t see any message,
so, thinking I had
a defective one,
I drained a second bottle.

The second one felt good
right away,
so I didn’t mind
draining a third
in search of that
ever elusive message.

Years passed,
bottles fell,
and nights wasted.

I don’t remember
when it stopped
being fun,
but I realized if there
was a message waiting
at the bottom of the bottle,
I was too damned drunk
to see it.

When I drained
the last bottle
just before midnight
February 10, 1990,
a message finally made it
through:

“you can’t handle this.”

It wasn’t profound,
but it was honest,

and, thankfully,
I haven’t handled it
since.

8 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:12 PM

    Mosk, what an amazing twist on the "Message in a Bottle" theme. I did one recently about how I sobered up by watching my mom do the same. Yours has real honesty... takes cojones to admit what the real message was. Cleverest take on this prompt I've seen yet.

    Yo sistah from anudda mudda, Ameleh
    http://sharplittlepencil.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/laptopia-ode-to-starbucks-haiku/

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful twist not on the cap but on the prompt...pathos with crispness...quite lovely....

    Meant every word and still wonder how I gkt booted off your list :(

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hmmm could it be those IPAD autocorrect typos? ....." how I GOT booted off your list.
    On or off your list you are a rare talent and would top mine.... Must I return the sash, saber and scepter? I' 've already eaten the double dip.... :). Hi..Ames

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sir,
    you are the first to be awarded,
    by me,
    the stylish blogger award.
    check it out, man
    check
    it
    out...

    http://bttrflyscar.blogspot.com/2011/04/oh-boy.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. @bttrflyscar Well, ain't you so sweet! Thanks, that made my day!

    @PKP - you weren't kicked off, if you make the list once consider yourself emeritus! I probably just was too distracted to appreciate your writing. You are very talented and way too prolific for my (covertly)competitive soul. :)

    Keep the sash - use it to hold up loose trousers.

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  6. Ha - what me competetive?
    wait did you say that you were more competetive than I?

    You are an absolute delight - a talent that continuously fills me with wonder and a delightful commenter ... I would have written "racontuer" immediately but needed to look up the spelling and discovered all these years I've been mis-speaking saying something like racconeteur - which now sounds like a French cartoon character with a mask and furry little paws.

    I will keep the sash and wear it proudly around my big mouth :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. just an overdue return on an unpaid balance.

    ReplyDelete