Excerpt














Miami

Miami was wicked hot
and even though we landed at midnight
I got sweaty
just being outside
smoking the first cigarette
I’d had
in hours.

We got a room
up high in some hotel
on the beach,
and sat up until five,
drinking on the balcony.

The sunrise
broiled us out of bed
around 6.

I got real drunk
every night,
just like home,
though the change of scenery
somehow made it seem different,
even better.

Lulu worried
I’d fall off the balcony
but I wasn’t afraid,
just stupid.

My boy thought the pool was cool,
and the monkeys and dolphins too,
though he got tired
of us driving around
so much
because stuff was always so far away.

It was a weird vacation
what with the kid stuff
all day
and the drinking
all night.

But life was like that anyway
by then;
Miami just made it
more tropical,

getting blind drunk
and passing out
then faking my way
through the next day,
every day.

The ocean was nice, though,
and so were the palm trees.