punch monkey

[unzenjen]

time to line up
(like caged monkeys for peanuts)
for the little plastic cups
with the bitter and sticky-thick
red punch that makes
your pupils constrict
(no more black holes for eyes)
and the nurse says
"put some water in your cup--get it all out--"
sticky-thick and bitter red
with gluey green
at the bottom--
to keep you calm--
no misbehaving monkeys in this circus, please

and now comes the red punch that's not
sticky-thick and is
just a
little bit bitter
and has no green
at the bottom
(no more nurses telling you anymore to get it all out)
and this cup of punch
turns
your pupils
back into black holes

if you ask them, they'll tell you it's
"a blind detox"
and you begin thinking that maybe,
just maybe,
it's double-blind,
and that no one,
not even the nurses,
knows what's really going on
here in the circus
but that doesn't keep you from
lining up
for the punch

sad day when the punch is sweet and
the bitter comes in cubes
of sugar
that melt too slowly,
making mouthfuls of
bitterspit,
held in place with the tongue,
which was made for things better
than this

and now you want the
bitterspit
and think your tongue likes
this a little, after all,
but the nurse tells you with a
small smile,
"no
you're
detoxed"

but you aren't at all,
not really,
or you wouldn't keep
thinking
sticky-thick sticky-thick sticky-thick
and
bitter bitter bitter red,
better with the bottom of
gluey green,
a much better bitter
than the sugar cubes and
bitterspit

and now you think
that you can't wait to
start it all over,
pick up where you left off,
so you can be with all
the other monkeys lining up for peanuts
or punch,
because you liked being in the circus
and you miss your cage

 

[(Wordy)]

Nice one... I could visualise the whole thing, and taste the punch in its various guises. Vividly described.

 

[TheLoveBandit]

sweet

... as in cool, not as in sticky non-bitter

 

[up all night]

I loved reading you (this).