D.b. asher
Poem From My Ghost to Yours
You gave me a good life
& there was alcohol in it
What I am trying to say
With the “and” not “but”
It was rum-soaked
More reine de saba
Than Jell-O shot
Our life was pineapple
Upside down a lot
Soggy bottom
My parents had
No use for alcohol
One jug of Lancer’s
In its thick red crockery
For a dinner party
& that was that
Still she got cancer
Still his kidney gave out
So alcohol was maybe
Not the problem
The problem with alcohol
A suboptimal solution
Sloshing about the handle
Of our after-hours bar
Co-mingling livers
Lifting my head
Over my dress
Pocking the floor
With assorted stiletti
Your rapier, my awl
The prick of his beard
& the other one’s heels
Improbably tall
While in college, D.B. Asher was awarded a prize from the Academy of American Poets; she went on to earn a PhD and train as a socio-analyst. She leads a global consultancy and serves on the Board of Advisors at The American Poetry Review. Some of her poems can be found in Inverted Syntax, Apricot Press and on Instagram (db.asher.self).