BENEDICTION
Here comes the vomit before the sleep can come,
Right into the toilet.
I make that loud noise from the bottom
Of my throat.
It comes and then it comes again.
I bow my head.
Tonight I think about you as I puke pink
And I puke green
Into a porcelain still shiny from the last
Cleaning. I drank a lot and I wrote a poem
So that’s something.
I feel better when it comes out
But how it hurts hurling up from the depths.
The nights to come are finite and I see in the distance
The final flicker. It’s closer than before.
I’m afraid but I also feel better already
Thinking about my various poverties
And the coolness of my pillows
While I spit out the final puke
And wipe it from exhausted unloved lips, praying:
May this be the last poem I write about you.
I bow my head
And pray.
©2023 John Tustin All rights reserved.
John Tustin’s poetry has appeared in many disparate literary journals since 2009. fritzware.com/johntustinpoetry contains links to his published poetry online.