When I Get Drunk I Reread My Old Stuff

When I get drunk

I reread my old stuff.

It’s how this writer

learned what kids today

really mean when they

call your content “cringe.”

Over the years

I’ve gone from trying

to sound like Shakespeare,

to Ginsberg,

to Ginsberg and Shakespeare.

Then I wrote screenplays

and tried to sound like

Aaron Sorkin,

then Tarantino.

Then I got into politics

and went from Tarantino

to Trotsky,

to Marx.

Then I discovered

Tom Waits and Bukowski.

So now when I get drunk

and reread my old shit

all I can think about

is how much I used to suck.