Rum-running is the act of smuggling liquor over water
Bootlegging refers to smuggling liquor over land
While not official terms, brazenness and optimism
apply to the man who took a flask of the Führer’s
finest cognac straight from the Eagle’s Nest
and years later poured it into a small silver cup
to toast the guests at his eldest son’s bar mitzvah
After they bury me I suppose they will toast
my unparalleled capacity for wasting time or
proclivity for spinning wild yarns. Of my soufflés
they will say what they must. I’m not one to traffic
in pedigree, but I’d like it mentioned that William McCoy,
no relation, was a devoted family man and never
watered the hooch. Uncork the best bottle! Pour
your finest brandy! Raise a glass to this life in which
strangely each day someone else dies

 

 

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Maria Dylan Himmelman’s debut poetry collection has been awarded the first annual Hanging Loose Founder’s Prize and will be published in 2023.