Good evening my fellow poets and welcome to the bar for another round of Poetics. ‘Another round’ you say? ‘make mine a double!’ Free drinks at the bar all night on me.
We are of course a pub where only virtual drinks are drunk and where the the real selection on offer is the talent of the group to create word wizardry from any prompt.
So what if we combine those two. Poems and drink? Now before you rush off to get tipsy, (although that could make for an interesting prompt!) what I mean is let us tonight bring poems to the pub about drinking. There have been such prompts in the past in various guises so I would like you to be creative with your words.
Of course the drink need not be alcoholic nor even drink right? We are after all poets!! Of course you may wish to pen a poem when you’re drunk…on whisky…on love…on life…Check Baudelaire.
Be Drunk
Charles Baudelaire, 1821 – 1867
You have to be always drunk. That’s all there is to it—it’s the only way. So as not to feel the horrible burden of time that breaks your back and bends you to the earth, you have to be continually drunk.
But on what? Wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish. But be drunk.
And if sometimes, on the steps of a palace or the green grass of a ditch, in the mournful solitude of your room, you wake again, drunkenness already diminishing or gone, ask the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock, everything that is flying, everything that is groaning, everything that is rolling, everything that is singing, everything that is speaking. . .ask what time it is and wind, wave, star, bird, clock will answer you: “It is time to be drunk! So as not to be the martyred slaves of time, be drunk, be continually drunk! On wine, on poetry or on virtue as you wish.”
By way of a different route here is a beauty by Evelyn Duncan.
Picking Up
Evelyn Duncan
During the depression
my mother, teetotaler,
but thrifty to a fault,
surprised my father and me
when she cobbled up a still,
kept it on a shelf behind the kitchen stove,
and salvaged a crate of too-ripe pears
by making brandy, pouring it into Mason jars,
and storing them on the cellar stairs.
When my father found a better job at last,
and movers came one day to move our stuff,
“A shame to have this go to waste,” we heard my mother say,
offering them the brandy, which they polished off.
They soon grew happy at their work,
hanging a chamber pot and her Sunday dress
on outside panels of their battered truck
and speeding off into the dusk
before she could protest.
We closed the house, cranked the Model-A, and started out,
following over stony mountain ruts,
but soon were stopping now and then
when headlights showed familiar shapes
lying in the road or ditch: first
the chamber pot and dress; next,
a chair, a bucket, and a box of sheets.
But drunk with hope, we praised our luck,
sang “Bringing in the Sheaves”
as we collected what the truck had dropped.
Our task this evening is then crystal clear. Pen a poem about drinking and be as creative as you wish with the word. Drinking also offers up some fabulous verbage for us to play with. Feel free to slurp me a sonnet, guzzle me a ghazal or chug me a chanso.
As always link up your poem via Mr Linky (below) and drop into the realms of each other’s blogs to stay a while and read/comment/like.
paul scribbles said:
Evening all. Drinking’s the name of the game tonight. Free bar and hopefully some drinkable poems to follow.
Poetry Pasta said:
Please pour me a shot of Fireball whiskey
—————————————————————————–
Fireball
by Valeri Beers
Fireball
on a
Friday night.
There’s not
enough whiskey
to make
it alright.
It might be
a
stable relationship
but there is
renting & rudeness
Pingback: Source/El Origen | Gospel Isosceles
Pingback: No Alcohol Required – writing in north norfolk
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
I went from drinking to drunk… but I’m open for what the bar has to offer… 🙂
paul scribbles said:
Free bar Bjorn…have whatever ya fancy.
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
I fancy something warm tonight I think 🙂
paul scribbles said:
Hot Toddy?
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
Great… that’s perfect
kim881 said:
Cheers Paul! A non-alcoholic cocktail for me please – no parasol but some fancy ice would be nice!
paul scribbles said:
Vimto ice cubes coming right up 😉
kim881 said:
🙂
Pingback: Coffee Soup – Poetry, Short Prose and Walking
Frank Hubeny said:
Thanks for hosting, Paul! I’ve got one about a coffee drink that I often make.
paul scribbles said:
Evening Frank. Heading over to read right now.
Gospel Isosceles said:
I guess I’ll be the designated driver. I’m just drinking water tonight, the colder and fresher the better! O agua, si prefiere.
paul scribbles said:
Water it is then, fresh from pure mountain springs and unadulterated by any corporations.
annell4 said:
Thanks for the opportunity to share my ghazal…and I’ll have another…..and the next round will be on me.
paul scribbles said:
Welcome Annell. Loved the ghazal.
paul scribbles said:
Fish is ready in the oven and I’ve a hungry partner to feed. Back shortly.
Jane Dougherty said:
Sláinte!
Pingback: A short hike in Aleph’s Glen – erbiage
erbiage said:
Evening, Paul. A little nightcap for me if you please. I thought to drink from a waterfall, but when I got there, the waterfall was doing the drinking
paul scribbles said:
A wee dram then perhaps?
Frank J. Tassone said:
Afternoon, Poets! Thanks for the mouth-savoring prompt, Paul. How about you crack open those Montepulciano d’Abruzzos! Nothing like Italian red for a drinking prompt! 🙂
paul scribbles said:
Welcome Frank.Coming right up.
paul scribbles said:
Thanks for the libations this evening. I’m off to a well earned sleep. Back in the morning to read any more drops of poetry.
Charmed Chaos said:
What wicked fun Paul! I’m drinking a lovely Bordeaux as I write.
rothpoetry said:
Love the chamber pot hanging on the moving truck… what a hoot! Must have been potent stuff!!
dwight
jazzytower said:
Yep!!! That ‘chamber pot’, had me laughing out loud. Pretty sure the neighbors are wondering what’s going on😊😊😊 I’d better stick to strawberry flavored seltzer Paul.
Thanks for hosting.
Pat
whimsygizmo said:
Gah. The Baudelaire is fantastic. Inspired, and off to write. I drank a ton of wine on a long Bestie weekend, so I shall stay sober tonight, except for word-wildly-ness.
rosemawrites said:
Oh I have never been drunk hehe, but I guess our earth is. with hate. that’s what i offered today. 🙂 thank you for this prompt!
Pingback: lifelessons – a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown
lifelessons said:
When I came back to see if my link worked, another poem somehow got installed to Mr. Linky as well as the “bar” poem I intended. Can you remove my second poem–the one about children lost in the prairie blizzard? I can’t imagine how this happened. Sorry..
sarahsouthwest said:
I initially read this as “praline blizzard” which would have been a whole other thing…
lifelessons said:
Indeed.. Just tummyaches in place of the terrible alternative.
paul scribbles said:
No worries Judy. It has been removed.
lifelessons said:
Thanks, Paul.
Pingback: Poems about drink for dVerse | Fmme writes poems
sarahsouthwest said:
I’m hitting the bar for breakfast! Gin seems inappropriate, so I’ll have a nice cup of tea.
paul scribbles said:
Morning Sarah. A nice cup of tea served in our best china cups on it’s way.
paul scribbles said:
Morning folks ( here in Yorkshire. I’m about to drink my first coffee and will be on the poetry trail shortly.
lillian said:
Late to the pub….eye problem has me laid up. Will look to imbibe a little later today…blurry though the reading will be. Think I’d like some sangria please…
paul scribbles said:
Over to read shortly Lil x
Pingback: Life-Giving | revivedwriter
D. Avery @shiftnshake said:
I left one on the bar. Thanks for the inspired and quaffable prompt.
paul scribbles said:
Thanks for the contribution. Off to read now.
Janice said:
Good morning Paul. I came up with a dark romantic (?) poem…helped by the grey ice outside and the grey poems from Monday 😉
paul scribbles said:
Thanks Janice. Popping over now.
Pingback: Coffee Break | teleportingweena