BOOK KNOWLEDGE
asleep on a bench in a Boston
bus station — having missed the last
one to Maine — they cleared us out
to close and clean, so we walked
the streets until first bus out.
finally in South Berwick
we slept on a large block of foam.
our host had been so drunk
that he passed out last night;
so he couldn’t have picked us up
anyway if we had made it.
trying to get over Susan
the only ways I knew —
drugs, booze and women;
all were my coke enabling
me to cope with no future.
a complete wreck running on luck
the job at a bookstore allowed
lateness and layered hangovers
because I kept them in coke and
I had book knowledge.