“The Universe’s Way”

The people who cause you to drink
probably think you’re funny
and not really upset
and that only drunks wait 
outside the liquor store
a few minutes before it opens.

They don’t know the stress
they tighten on you like a sneaker
on an oversized foot,
swollen from sickness,
only for you to feel even worse
when they get hurt
from you telling them to fuck off.

It all makes you wonder 
if in a past life you were 
a Nazi or a serial killer,
and this is the universe’s way
of teaching you some guilt
lives longer than the memories
that try their damnedest to forget
how to swim in the cheapest whisky.