Buffalo Trace and Eagle Rare

Let's workshop this poem about native men drinking themselves to oblivion: a time-honored way to confront historical pains that, so societal messaging would have it appear, justify their resignation.

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Buffalo Trace and Eagle Rare

To dull the gnaw of a past
drumbeat into them
as a ticket to why-bother,
natives glugged
shared bottles
of reservation water

(like elders)—afraid, 
in that zone before honeybees
hovering open mouths
of honied vomit, 
the pain’s rebound
might split them this time.

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