Write Drunk. Edit Sober

a poem

Photo by Adam Wilson on Unsplash

That’s what Ernest Hemingway
used to say.
Get yourself trashed
at the expense of your liver
so you can see what weird stuff
comes out of your head.
If you were in your twenties
and didn’t get hangovers
this would be wonderful
advice to have.
But if you’re like me
and getting hangovers
for the first time
in your thirties
I’m not so sure
it’s the best idea.
But maybe you’ll be fine.
Maybe you’re one of those
weird ones
where you don’t get the
dreaded hangover
like everyone else.
Maybe you’re like me
and get hangovers so rarely
that it makes no difference
if you’re drunk or not.
Just write, my child, write!
No matter what your state of mind!
The world needs to know
what the hell you
have to say.
It isn’t fair for the world
for you to stay silent
when you could have
the very words
to save it.