AND DIE BEHIND THE WHEEL

he woke up saturday afternoons
always with a hangover
but this was cured by stubby's bar...
a neighborhood tap room with a pool table
and the usual crowd of miscreants
where a gin and tonic was still thirty five cents

the summer sun came through the nicotine stained windows
and after five or six cocktails, he came home and went back to bed
he ate his supper after a two hour nap
and showered for his night time gig at the cocktail lounge
he lit a joint and proceeded into the heart of the city
then rolled another one, and decided not to smoke it
he was across the street from the chicago lawn polce station
instead he psychedilcized in the bathroom

he stocked the bar and put ice in the sinks
made sure all was well and ready
then poured himself three fingers of whiskey
he turned on the jukebox and watched the band set up
and he listened to his favorite song
as they sang on and on:
"drink scotch whiskey all night long, and die behind the wheel."