Future Poem: Nine Months Failed

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Christine Ling

After “Future Poem: Nine Months Sober” by Sean Cho A.

Sept 2023

You’ve been still in all the wrong ways:
you leave lost of motivation,
returning full of waste, night-
time travels to everywhere. Just like you weren’t supposed to.
Last January your mind was filled
with resolve. Your task: consume everything
you thought was keeping you unalive.
Break the imaginary
ties, get up, and coax
the favorite parts
of yourself out.
         You sought and they came.
Your consequence: this pounding chaos.
Now, you will never be alone again.
Tell me about the lost will
that was shoved from your mind,
through those balance-loss-black-
out, the rapidly oncoming dawns
escaping from your grasp. There,
take the subway. I’ll swipe you in.
Make a list of those bars
you could go to
right now.
Now look around.
          This is exactly what you asked for.