WHAT’S YOUR POISON?

Honest beer, all working folks, drink deep!
Give thanks for noble friend, John Barleycorn.
Brewed by the wives of those who sow and reap,
it sweetens water from the brackish bourne.
Beside the church, the village tavern nestles
and round the barrel each man takes his ease.
The farmers and the lads lean all on trestles
and down their ale with apples, bread and cheese.

Sophisticated wine is sunshine, captured,
vouchsafed to us from Homer’s wine-dark sea
where Dionysus, wreathed in vines, enraptured
caused this intoxicating draught to be.
A wider compass takes its connoisseur
Each terroir and each vintage giving praise,
and choosing carefully which to prefer
with bourguignon, moussaka, bolognese.

Brash alcopop, swigged always from the bottle,
so Tellytubbie-bright and Barbie-sweet.
In noisy bars, aloud with accents glottal
Consumed, and then ejected in the street.
It speaks to us of swift gratification
to pacify the shallow and the drab.
Taste subjugated to intoxication
it washes down the greasiest kebab.