Poem "Big Pharma and the Barkeep" is in the Current Issue of The Examined Life Journal

Big Pharma and the Barkeep

Excerpted notes for cocktail recipes 
 
                                         
Lobbyist Lemon Drop                    

Tart. In taste and character. 
Sunny –  
by all appearances safe and refreshing. 
This cocktail
has something slipped into it.
This one will take you 
from Kansas to Oz and back.
You just don’t know it.

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The Good Journalist 

A call drink with your favorite brand 
of gin, Diet Coke, lime, 
is on the house, every time.
We need Clark Kent more than Superman. 
Listen. 
We need reporters who know
the way to save the world
is to inform it.



F.T.C. Fizz 

This one takes a swizzle stick 
with a tiny plastic crane.
Use cracked ice
before the grapefruit juice, before
the Prosecco. 
The Federal Trade Commission prevents 
anticompetitive or
deceptive business practices. 
Except when they don’t.  
Except when they won’t.
This one has a lonnnng, aftertaste.



The Formulary

A daily special, 
its price changes any time. 
Its availability changes 
any time.
The barkeep gets a phone call
and goes back 
to erasing and hand-lettering 
the chalkboard.
This drink is named 
for contemporary 
pharmacy benefit managers,
the post-merger Goliaths.
You must repeatedly show ID to prove 
you deserve 
the chance to be served.



The Prayer 

Serve The Prayer in ceramic steins 
hand-thrown 
by Benedictine monks.                                                                       
Serve it hot 
like Glühwein. 
Spicy, comforting, sharp. 
Drink it with your eyes closed 
(obviously).


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