TRADEOFFS
John Grey .
for every unpaid bill
an empty liquor bottle,
for every promise
to pay off those debts,
another slug
of Jack Daniels to make
sure he won’t,
for every soft
and teary pleading,
one of those bottles
flung furiously
at a wall
to smash into a thousand pieces,
for every morning
pathetic with light,
a shard of glass
to shimmer in the sun
then cut and draw
her blood.
