Tequila or Chasing the Worm



Tequila or Chasing the Worm

I’m chasing the worm tonight, mother,
That voracious monster lurking inside
The honey and heart,
Waiting to borrow through intestinal parts
Leaving a labyrinth of bloody tissue.

Issue me a Papal pardon
Else liver and heart both will harden.
Grant me amnesty from this pain
Else the merry-go will round again.

Spin the deadly die and record my score.
Tally the poisoned pipped tears of my pores.
Tiger the rings of carnival fire and
Jump the hopes of hellish desire
And thus burn belly with water and woe.

Go forth, my friend, and let me drown!
Tickle my throat and wiggle on down.
Amber you’ll leave and acid you’ll find,
Secreting a line of numbing slime behind.

About this poem

This poem came to me in college while I was still using alcohol to numb the pain of coming out as gay to my unaccepting family....especially my mother.

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Submitted by jeremyt.40101 on June 18, 2023

41 sec read
7

Quick analysis:

Scheme X AXXXX BBXX XXXAX CCDD
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 701
Words 137
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 1, 5, 4, 5, 4

Jeremy S. Turner

I am a forty-three year old gay man with degrees in English Literature and Theatre. I live in rural Arkansas near the town of Mountain View. I live life for my beautiful nieces and nephews and my cat. more…

All Jeremy S. Turner poems | Jeremy S. Turner Books

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    "Tequila or Chasing the Worm" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/162185/tequila-or-chasing-the-worm>.

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