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Poem of the Month
For years I’ve been working on a little book of poems about drinking, called Drinking Songs. I’ve written a number of poems for this book, but I may never finish, because I feel as if I may never know enough about the subject. So, I’m still engaged in active research.
This one poem, Let us go to drinking wine, was inspired by two other poems, one by Raymond Carver, about Alexander the Great, and the other by a Chinese poet whose name I can’t recall, about using your time wisely while young. But I wonder, are all these poems really about drinking or is drinking just an excuse for a poem, a jumping off point. Whatever.
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Let us go to drinking wine
“Alexander drank his fill and passed out.
He had to be carried to his tent. He had
to be lifted, to be put into his bed.”
Raymond Carver, Wine
I recall a poem, though I don’t recall the poet,
But I know he was a Chinese sage,
And a wise sage he must have been,
For I recall thus his poem:
─While you’re young and have wine,
Use it to get drunk:
There’ll be no second helpings
When you get to the Nine Springs.─
From another poem I remember
Alexander the Great as a wine drunk.
Perhaps the greatest wine drunk ever.
He went through a lot,
Conquering the world and all,
Destroying great cities,
Killing friends and foes alike.
Me, I been through a lot myself,
Though I’m not so great,
I’m just drunk.
And I don’t imagine that when I get to the Nine Springs,
I’ll be asking for any second helpings.
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John Twomey
Posted at July 1, 2007 01:26 AM