Poem: "Scarier Things"
This poem came out of the March 3, 2015 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from kelkyag. It has been selected in an audience poll for sponsorship out of the general fund. This poem belongs to the series Monster House.
Warning: This poem mentions the end of WWII and some of the aftermath from that. It's not explicit, but it may not be to everyone's taste. Also, there is alcohol consumption for commemoration and comfort, not to the point of extreme drunkenness. Think before you click.
Scarier Things
It wasn't often that I found
the bogeyman moping, but sometimes
things just got to him, I guess.
This time he was sitting at the kitchen table,
wrapped around a glass of what looked like blood
but turned out to be the last of a bottle of sloe gin.
Beside him the lurking shadow had a bowl of
black vodka -- the blackberry kind, not
the licorice kind, also almost empty.
"So what's the occasion?" I asked
as I sat down beside them,
wondering if I could help.
The bogeyman pointed
at the calendar, with the date --
August 6 -- circled in red.
Hiroshima Day.
"Oh," I said softly.
"Yeah, that's a downer."
"It is not a comforting thought,"
he said slowly, "to realize that there are
scarier things in the world than the bogeymen."
* * *
Notes:
Hiroshima Day (August 6) commemorates the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.
Sloe gin is flavored with plums. Black vodka may be flavored with blackberries.
Yes, they're drinking kind of a lot, but they're not really all that drunk, on account of not being human. It just takes more for them to get anywhere with it, and they've been spreading it out for a while too. Drinking for comfort can be an occasional self-soothing technique or the beginning of an alcohol problem. What matters is less what you do, and more how often and what the results are. I think the only other time I've seen these guys indulging in alcohol was the rum balls one Halloween. They seem to be holiday drinkers.
Warning: This poem mentions the end of WWII and some of the aftermath from that. It's not explicit, but it may not be to everyone's taste. Also, there is alcohol consumption for commemoration and comfort, not to the point of extreme drunkenness. Think before you click.
Scarier Things
It wasn't often that I found
the bogeyman moping, but sometimes
things just got to him, I guess.
This time he was sitting at the kitchen table,
wrapped around a glass of what looked like blood
but turned out to be the last of a bottle of sloe gin.
Beside him the lurking shadow had a bowl of
black vodka -- the blackberry kind, not
the licorice kind, also almost empty.
"So what's the occasion?" I asked
as I sat down beside them,
wondering if I could help.
The bogeyman pointed
at the calendar, with the date --
August 6 -- circled in red.
Hiroshima Day.
"Oh," I said softly.
"Yeah, that's a downer."
"It is not a comforting thought,"
he said slowly, "to realize that there are
scarier things in the world than the bogeymen."
* * *
Notes:
Hiroshima Day (August 6) commemorates the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.
Sloe gin is flavored with plums. Black vodka may be flavored with blackberries.
Yes, they're drinking kind of a lot, but they're not really all that drunk, on account of not being human. It just takes more for them to get anywhere with it, and they've been spreading it out for a while too. Drinking for comfort can be an occasional self-soothing technique or the beginning of an alcohol problem. What matters is less what you do, and more how often and what the results are. I think the only other time I've seen these guys indulging in alcohol was the rum balls one Halloween. They seem to be holiday drinkers.