David Breeden
Surviving the Coup

DEATH. ALCOHOL. POETRY

I bought matching notebooks
So we each could write
Our lives together.

We wrote them apart.
All I have is mine.

Death. Alcohol. Poetry.
All in turn feel right.
All in turn fail.

Hope and a credit card
Bought the books in Venice.

Yours is gone.
All I have is mine.
Death. Alcohol. Poetry.

The narcissism of pen
And fancy paper—a squirrel

We cats catch by the throat.
Death. Alcohol. Poetry.
It’s what we can manage

For ourselves after
The wounds fester.
All you have is yours.

72 Pages
$15
isbn 1-882983-89-0

David Breeden earned an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His Ph.D. is from the University of Southern Mississippi. He has published five books of poetry and three novels. He teaches writing and literature at Schreiner University. His work has appeared in Mississippi Review, Poet Lore, Mid-American Review, The Quarterly, North Atlantic Review, The Literary Review, and Wormwood Review.