every morning i wake up with the taste of blood in my mouth

and an unsettled feeling in my stomach

and i wonder what i was doing while i was asleep

who i was eating

we went somewhere and someone told me they got a job at a beer bottling plant

this could also have been a dream, but bear with me and let's say it happened

it might seem hazy because i was drunk

which is ironic because in this memory

i was warning our friend

about someone who went into AA

after being a canner for Coors

and being paid in alcohol

everyone's always getting too far into something

and getting lost

i have another friend who was just found in Tennessee, homeless, dazed,

having burned through something like $10,000,

which had been left to him in a will

and my own brother, my own family

the stories i could tell you about them

and myself

now i just sleep and wake and there is no shock between the two like there used to be

and i can hardly tell

one day from the last

i just keep pumping away,

hoping you'll find the answers to your problems,

hoping i can help you find some relief

so i can believe it exists, somewhere in the world

relief, i mean