Inside Joke  

A phone rings in the darkness
of a Tuesday night and I
raise my glass and whisper,
“please leave a message at the tone”

I am chasing heart failure in a bathtub
or aspirated vomit on a hotel toilet
but I might be a few corrosives short.

The footsteps outside my window
continue to come and go, but they 
only motivate me to turn up the radio
and crack another tax stamp.

You told me once that all things
have a beginning as well as an end,
and I laughed at your pessimism.

As I sit here alone on the crest
of Wednesday morning crash
I can’t remember why
I thought that was funny.