Transdermal

Summer has peaked,

and we are sliding inexorably

towards kinder temperatures.

The midday breeze wicks away

the toxins as I sweat them out,

liquor I drank in a desperate attempt

to be myself.

 

This groggy-head anxiety

almost feels like home.

 

You are an abnormally strong stimulant,

absorbed through the slightest

skin contact.

Twenty-four hours later, and sleeping

still doesn't seem like a possibility. 

 

I drank just to calm the jitters,

to steady my hands enough

to untie this knot I have hidden

behind my ribs. 

If I don't do that,

I know that

I'll f**k this up.

Reviews

[barleygirl]

"Transdermal" is a brilliant title with all it conjures up! I love how your poem begins as if we are going to talk about the weather, but little by little, the real msg becomes clearer & clearer. You paint a delicious word portrait of the addled addicted desperado in a new light. The reader kinda loves this guy becuz you present his frailties so interestingly! (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[John the Baptist]

The lover who being described here must be something else. That the speaker has to drink to calm down a day later indicates someone lit a powerful fire.