New England

by Alfonso Colasuonno

We're drinking Power Jack from a Styrofoam cup

That’s Jack Daniels with crushed Ritalin

Mixed up in unknown quantities

That we pass back and forth

As I ride shotgun in his van


And I note that there’s a lot of white snow

Up here, near Brattleboro.

And he's telling me

That his aunt wants to disown him

Because he likes Jack Daniels

She’s not concerned

About underage drinking

Or binge drinking

But his family is from Kentucky

He should be loyal to Jim Beam

It’s a question of decorum

Now there’s a bonfire going

And of course there’s a joint

A townie that he knows met us here

He sells quarters for sixty

Always kind bud, he says

And of course he sticks around

And of course he’s in the rotation

And he tells us

About when his dad fought in ‘Nam

There was a soldier

With one leg

And he was hoarding ammunition and weaponry

And he dug a hole with his hands

[He made a point to note that his hands were fine]

And buried himself in there

And his dad’s mission

Was to go and kill this AWOL soldier

I think there was supposed to be a point.

When I was getting ready to leave

He drove me to the Greyhound stop

And told me what he wanted more than anything

He wanted to work at a fancy restaurant

And lace all the platters with LSD

And watch the squares trip balls.

I never saw him again.

But I always wondered what it'd be like

If I went to school in New England.