Knocking Around Upstairs: Poems, Observations, Short Stories

This collection was written almost entirely while intoxicated, or else with a hangover the day after a binge. It's something I typically avoid, and have coined a term for: WUI - writing under the influence - as a sort of reminder that it should largely be considered a bad thing. I cannot deny, however, that writing in this state accesses some of the nether-regions of my brain that remain otherwise closed off. So, over the space of several months, I stopped deleting or throwing away the drunken keyboard poundings or notebook scribblings I would find the morning after a good drunk, and compiled them all here. I never write poetry sober, so you will find poems here. I tend to - for some reason - consider my thoughts profound when drinking, so you will find observations on life here. Finally, I recently dug up eight short stories I wrote in my early twenties, which recount nights of drunken debauchery and self-harm, so I've dusted those off, polished them up as much as I could (you can't polish a turd, but I gave it my best shot. Skip if you don't like garbage for the sake of garbage) , and included them here as well. Enjoy.