opening day drag

"Life and drugs

Are two sides of the same coin"

Or so I told myself at the time.

Coffee in the morning

Maybe a shot of whiskey

Work

Sweating

Back hurts

Hands hurt

Can't find my tape

the framing gun makes my ears ring

Esteban almost fell off the third-floor roof.

The stairs I built look nice though

good week of work.

It's the weekend now

aint no surf

So we fix an outboard motor

Snorting cocaine throughout

Felt clean enough

We got jiggy jaw

Delved too deeply into the 9.9hp Yamaha

Got it back together by 3 am

"she puhtin good boy!"

A little rich

Looked at the carb too long

Looking for meaning in the little pathways.

It's 5

I feel horrible

like my brain is too big for my skull

The phone rings

Somewhere in the trailer

Rob needs us on the boat

It's opening day

inshore shrimping seasons begun

"dammit who made me drink all them beers!?"

The day is hot

And the sun aint even up yet

Waters slick

We drop the nets

I eat some Xanax

the diesel smell brings back good memories

wasn't long and I felt like 100 bucks.

The old salts have weathered eyes

skin burnt by sun and wind

They've lived 3 of my lifetimes

I steer the boat

Listening to their stories

the oceans whispered truths to them

that remain unheard by many.

the tourist boat circled us

with telephoto lenses

I had to piss

they kept following me

went port to starboard

at least four times

oh well

hope they got a good one of my cock.

late morning we call it

The drags no good today

two,

Maybe three baskets full

Enough to pay for diesel

We take the little brown shrimp

And make some tacos

Do a dump run

burn a barrel fire

See how the outboard runs

A little too rich still

life aint to bad in the marshlands.