Call Your Mother (Alcohol)

There was a time when I thought

bad behavior was cute,

the pulse of the party

was the one who yelled the loudest,

fought the hardest, cried the most.

There was a time when my mouth

did most of the living,

stretched and puckered and grimaced

through and out and over.

But how many warnings

to make a different decision?

How you treat one thing

is how you treat everything,

including yourself.

I loved you, then,

through the bottom

of a glass, which is neither

half-full nor half-empty,

but for a limited time

refillable ad nauseum.