Riff On Sue Ann Simar's 'I Awoke In A Casket' Poem by David McLansky

I awoke in a casket
At my own wake
I was wrapped in a basket,
Was there some mistake?

After class in night school,
I stumbled in here,
I sat on a bar stool
And ordered a beer

'The brown foamy stuff? '
Asked the man at the bar
And offered a puff.
From his wet chewed cigar,

A waitress came by
And gave me a hickey
In a small shot of rye
She slipped me a mickey;

Cramped in tight quarters
In a fresh pine wood box
Lamented my daughters
“He’s wearing white sox.”

I mixed up my French
When requesting a beer,
The bilingual wench
Thought I said “bier.”