Always Another
An Ekphrastic Sonnet
By D. J. ReddallPublished 5 months ago • Updated 5 months ago • 1 min read

Francis Bacon, "Man Drinking," 1955
Watching the glass drain you, cold and empty
Makes the impish paradox of whiskey
So clear, as thirst and wrinkles multiply
And you rinse the drain of your memory

You will tell the tired story again
I smell it frying behind your moist teeth
The drink hides repetition with its stain
From you, though I know what lingers beneath

You don’t know you are repeating yourself
You can’t remember all this forgetting
Once a library, you’re an empty shelf
Tangled up in your own mind’s wet netting

I remember seeing the drink take you
Nothing it taught you was fresh or true
About the Creator
D. J. Reddall
I write because my time is limited and my imagination is not.


Comments (2)
This is so well put together, from that very first line, and then how the drink hides the repetition. Great work!
I love this line: I smell it frying behind your moist teeth. What a line that is! Deftly done, D.J.