Through the bottle

Alcoholic mother, father, and brother

Drinking always the lone thing that connects them together

Liquor the substance that appears thicker than blood

For their family

I try to sit back and look at things objectively

But get so angry that I feel like I need a drink myself

Want to take the drama and displace it for her

Want to destroy the negativity and transform it into something more

They are always looking at each other through the bottle

The only strong family ties seemed to be sewn together

Amongst the beer and vodka goldschlager and grey goose

I look at she and she only looks sad and hurt

Even though she looked for more from them

They were always looking back at her through a bottle

Incessantly swigging, shot-ing, and chugging

The alcohol lubricating the pain that has been omnipresent

Dusting her heart with glass bottle shards

Cancer, homeless, locked up, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg

Dancing around each other in an alcohol hazed stupor

Her mind numbs and slows as if she was drinking when she sees them

I see them, meticulously destroy her

She wants them to show love and share their hearts

But none of them know how to express anything but criticism

“First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.”

And the drinks take them back into their cold closed off hearts

Not knowing how to tell their sister and daughter that they love her

Not knowing how to express love

Looking for love she is

But all they can show her is the empty bottle

The empty loves in their life

All I can do is show her that at the end of the day

Empty bottles are just empty bottles

"An Akili Carter original"