Saltine crackers have become my worst enemy
Add that to my rapidly-growing list of “do-not-eats”
Along with many common foods I considered treats
Salt, sugar, and fats, in general, are my archenemy.
Sorry, Barbara Bush,* you did not heed good advice
And lived it up with salty carbs and unsaturated fat,
Because you let your doctor’s warnings fall flat
In your final days, you paid the ultimate price.
The symptoms are clear and very easy to discern
Swollen ankles, fatigue, and difficulty breathing
You suffer a general malaise which is not so pleasing
Taking Lasiks intravenously is something you learn.
I will miss, most of all, those tasty strips of bacon
Forever forbidden along with salty potato chips
No more adding salt to the food passing my lips
Adding restrictions to the handfuls of meds I’m takin’.
It is not so bad, after all, [I am training myself to think]
Following some simple directions about what I eat
I can still have vegetables and some delicious red meat
It is so much better than living life right up to the brink.
[*a nod to First Lady Barbara Bush, who died of
Congestive Heart Failure at the ripe old age of 92!]
Written June 1, 2021
As coffee cups go mine's very pretty
With butterflies and flowers thereon
Not very masculine I must admit
But welcome at the crack of dawn
Stumbling my way down to the kitchen
At six o'clock on the dot
Dragging my body bumping into things
Arms flailing reaching for the pot
The first sip goes down kinda roughly
I shake and shudder giving thanks
My body tingles right down to my tootsies
That stuff can sure turn my crank
Been thinking of taking it intravenously
That's when there's no turning back
When you fall headlong over the precipice
And have serious withdrawal attacks
But to top it all off this substance is legal
How cool is that my good friends
When stuff can give you this much of a buzz
It's bound to be illegal in the end
So far so good and until further notice
You can drink it openly if you wish
But as soon as it goes the way of marijuana
That's a whole different kettle of fish
I love it when you hear a word you haven't heard in a while
like intravenously
and use it like
she slipped intravenously into the room
then blurted
and every eye blurted their approval
Probably now this is a challenge
i could pro bably split it apart ably
But probably she is beauty's subject
I liked the wean(Scottish for child) who tasted glue first
Honoured to see the bullies as the bullied turned their face
Caught the eye of ever trust
Taking hope intravenously or two tablets a day
Watch the sheep
Yeah about that I still like SHOOP
that wants to be a cloud
Seen lust keep me still
Showed my skin pathways for the rain
or the cloud that wanted
Yeah i hung it there
Why no Snoop on the call waiting
this is the amble before
Tried to dodge a bullet we arranged to have coffee
I have worn a skin of oil
as it fed on form below
Not PRI but something MAL in between
Traffic jams, the constant beat ,
bloody robotic tune, automobile cells,
comatose faces, last stand, this subtle hate.;
frying intellect, counting money ,faraway fields,
mind machinery,
comatose ,steering wheel illusions ,
dream delusional ;cement and aluminium soothers,
we should be institutionalised
left to play ping pong and getting two hundred volts on a daily basis,
and pumped full of anti fear anti hype anti consumerism drugs delivered intravenously,
daddy following daddy ,walking in straight lines, even the trees cant be bothered if you scream.
solitude, whiskey ,fat preachers sweating, caressing your wallet ,
the programme that was coded at your birth is now tattooed upon your soul,
As coffee cups go mine's very pretty
With butterflies and flowers thereon
Not very masculine I must admit
But sure welcome at the crack of dawn
Stumbling my way down to the kitchen
At six o'clock right on the dot
Dragging my body bumping into things
Arms flailing as I reach for the pot
The first sip goes down kinda roughly
I shake and shudder giving thanks
My body tingles right down to my tootsies
That stuff can sure turn my crank
Been thinking of taking it intravenously
That's when there's no turning back
When you fall headlong over the precipice
And have serious withdrawal attacks
But to top it all off this substance is legal
How cool is that my good friends
When stuff can give you this much of a buzz
It's bound to be illegal in the end
So far so good and until further notice
You can drink it openly if you wish
But as soon as it goes the way of marijuana
That's a whole different kettle of fish
© Jack Ellison 2013
Frantic, cleanliness, cleanliness
Blood is thicker than water
The blood is thicker, clotting, clotting
The bandages and duct tape
Plaster of Paris, a perfect cast
Without a script, no stage left
No stage right, the operating theatre
The scalpel caught a glimpse of light
Asleep, breathing, breathing
The magic milk, intravenously
The milk medication, choking, choking
The bed is stained with crimson paint
Like a miscarriage, waking to find
The foot of the bed, a flame landscape
Of deep shades of dark, bruised white
Flowing intravenously, off to sleep
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