Drink

There is a label

beside the spigot

“Drink in case of spells.”

like the eyewash station

in the chemistry lab

it’s good to have a plan

for when the world tips

sideways

by the time we’re done

we’ll be as full of darts 

as the board in the old pub

downtown 

and covered in chalk

from keeping score 

I’m not sure that

water from the tap

is going to help 

with the kind of cleansing 

that’s needed here

after we’ve been dragged

through the evening 

past the crowded booths

where the witches 

turn their heads 

and watch us pass

whispering to one another

behind the fall

of their long hair

where the dark mahogany 

of the bar 

has been rubbed smooth 

by a thousand hands

clutching it like a talisman 

and where we keep

drinking what is offered to us 

by attractive strangers 

which all the stories tell us

is a terrible mistake.

Photo courtesy of David McCaskill

https://500px.com/photo/263902149/Faucet-with-Flaws-by-David-McCaskill/