the other night
a regular came in
and told me how drunk he was
on Sunday night.
“I know,” I said,
“I got you home.”
Oh, really?
Well, Hey!, Hey!, check this out!
That same night!
I ripped out my eyebrow ring!
“Yeah,
I watched you skip the steps
and fall on the sidewalk,
head first.”
The cool part is, though,
Somehow, I had enough sense
to take it out
and set it on the sink in my bathroom.
“No you didn’t,” I told him,
“I took it out for you,
then I made the ice pack
using a garbage bag,
because you had no Zip Locks.”
Holy Shit!,
I was wondering why that was there,
I mean,
I knew it was an ice pack, sort of,
But it was so weird,
Just this wet bag in my bed!
“Yeah, I took your shoes off
while you sat on your bed.
Then I asked if you were wearing underwear.
You said you were,
so I asked if you needed me
to take your pants off too.
You said no,
so I turned your lights off and left.”
Oh my god!
I don’t remember any of that!
Fuck, man!
“The whole time we walked to your house
you kept swaying, telling me,
You really fucked up,
you could have taken Jessica home.”
Oh shit!
I really said that!
Oh fuck!
“Yeah, but you only said it to me,
don’t worry.”
Oh,
Good.
when he left that night
he told me I was the older brother
that he never wanted.,
me at 24
and him 29,
already a little graying.
and then I went home,
holding no brothers or sisters,
no Jessicas or Zip Lock bags,
no extra pants or shoes
no eyebrow rings or even
careening foreheads