Shadow and Light Poetry

Jack Daniels Failed Intervention revised

Jack Daniels Failed Intervention revised

Sam Adams was drinking alone
In the Cosmos Bar in Bangkok,
Twenty drinks too sober
Drinking his way to hell.

That night, about 0 dark hundred
He saw the bottle of Jack Daniels
Had somehow transformed
Into that of a younger version
Of Sam Adams.

The figure announced that he was the spirit
Of Jack Daniels and had a message
For Sam Adams.

“Khun Sam,It is not my place
To complain but you are
Drinking a bit too much.

Twenty drinks a night
For the last few weeks,
Don’t you think?

We all want you
To quit this one-way ride
drinking your way to Hell

Put down the bottle
If you continue drinking tonight,
The only destination is death

My friend, the Grim Reaper
Has your ticket ready for redemption”.

Soon the other bottles In front of him
Started talking to him
Pleading with him to just stop drinking.


Soon all the bottles in the room
All came alive and began chasing Sam,

Out into the busy street
Where a bus ran him over,
Died on the spot.

Thus ended Sam Adams’s
Last binge In the city of lost angels.
35 lines

Original poem published in Uncertain Stories

‘O Dark hundred” is military/intel jargon denoting the time two to three hours before dawn when operatives get up to prepare for dawn operations. Depending upon location and time of year it is between midnight and 6 a.m. Here in Thailand it would be about 4 a.m as sunrise is always the same 6 a.m..

The Cosmos Bar is a composite of the ex-pat bars in Bangkok.

Kuhn is a Thai word meaning Mister or Madam and is followed by the first name or nick name. It is a gender neutral standard way to talk to or refer to other people.

this poem is a free verse magical realism poem.