TIRED

i'ma tired. real tired. tired of your fancy-nancy drinks and mamby-pamby affectations, sure. but real tired of not sleeping well.

once was, i'd'a slept upon half-wet coils of smelly ropes on the open decks of ocean liners traversing the great atlantic ocean. i'd'a slept atop the baggages and packages piled willy-nilly into train cars traveling this once-great country.

you get the picture.

can't sleep no more. i close my eyes and wake up five seconds later.

maybe it's the way my life's unfolded, going from some great adventure to, well... this.

maybe it's this sitting in a bar night after night and watching the faces change but never really change because they all look too young to have personality and character.

or maybe it's the hipsers and their girlchilds YAMMERING ON AND ON outside MY WINDOW at 1:45 in the DADBLAMED MORNIN'.

no, i ain't gonna pop me no pills. i'll get me some sleep the old-fashioned way, the way my dad and his dad did before 'im -- i'll drink me another GIN MARTINI and head on out.

what? yeah, sure, 'nother one -- three olives... if you got the red-bits in 'em.