The Brown Owl

I remember this place

It has an all too familiar taste

This is where that chase

Hit its peak

And that love I was trying to seek

Ended being a hole where I would sink

An abyss that changed me

A free-fall

That lasted for eternity

A pain that stirred the beast, Creativity

And I still taste the 5 tequila shots I took

When I saw her here

All those years ago

All those fears ago

All those souls ago . . .

Back when I had a different kind of ego

In that moment

I drowned the boy

With booze and salty drops from his eyes

And I told myself whatever lie

I needed to survive

That, plus a lot of wine and time

And that’s how I arrived here

On my fourth beer

The man of the year

The man who in a year

Changed his eyes

From looking like he wanted to die

To something like

Happy to be alive

How’d I do it?

Well,

I let go.

CH 12/20/23