Make-Believe Shots

One
I slam the rum and coke;
imagining you taking me home,
I slink over, red dress falling just right
and you move away with a woman in your arms right before I get there.

I order more rum and coke.

Two
I open the drawer:
deceptive badge, gun, whiskey bottle.
Picture.  I gaze into your blue eyes
while I drown 'em.

The one that got away.

Three
Thanksgiving, and all I think of is vodka,
because the day is not right
when you're not alive
to bake my ham.

In my mind, I do shots until you come back.

Four
The closest I'll be to my wife
for the next four years
is this bottle of chianti.
I shoot it like hard liqour.

I don't want to waste home.

Five
When I drink the beers,
all the dead men die
and I'm left
alone in the bar at 2:00am in the morning on a Monday night.

Peace until the insurgents cry again.

Six
I keep drinking the cough syrup,
but it's not a cure for colds,
or AIDS.
Or the life I've lived.

Drink it just to sleep.