I fell off the wagon tonight.
Sprite at the holiday party
just wasn’t merry enough.
Only one Cosmopolitan,
drinking with Santa
tasted so good.
then another
another
an Alice-in-Wonderland night
falling down, in to
the rabbit hole
another time
yet again.
I need
help.

Written for Quadrille Monday at dVerse, the virtual pub for poets around the globe. Today I’m hosting and asking people to include the word “fall” or a form of the word, within their poem of exactly 44 words, sans title. Have no idea how Alice became an alcoholic….sometimes the muse just takes you down the rabbit hole! Image from Pixabay.com.

That’s what I used to look like waking up after falling down the rabbit hole, too. Drink some coffee, Alice.☕️
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I find it serendipity that I had this poem scheduled to go and then Matthew Perry (Friends) who suffered and struggled with addiction most of his adult life died yesterday. It is indeed a rabbit hole…..and one that is extremely difficult to climb out of and remain “in the sun” so to speak.
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This is the first I’m hearing about his passing. Wow. He was young.😞 I have lost too many friends to addiction/alcoholism. It is indeed difficult to break free.
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“Only one Cosmopolitan, drinking with Santa tasted so good.” I love this! I wonder what those two were talking about 😀
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don’t know what they were talking about but guarantee you Alice’s words were quickly slurred.
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Couldn’t help laughing at the poem and the art! Loved it!
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Glad you enjoyed….although I wasn’t looking for that response but glad you loved it! That’s the thing about poetry….its off the pen and in cyberspace and the writer no long has control of it. Word can be read in so many ways. 🙂
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Maybe it’s just me wanting to see the lighter side of the poem. Nothing nonsensical about those trapped in alcoholism though. Saddened by the news of Matthew Perry’s death.
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Liked the poem AND the vibrant picture of Alice and the rabbit. Interesting thing mentioned on the news yesterday about Matthew Perry is that he was willing and able to help others in trouble, but even with multiple rehab stints he could not help himself. Sad what success can bring.
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I also read that as an infant, he had colic, cried continually and his parents gave him an opiode and then he was quiet. Can’t help but wonder if that didn’t do something to his tolerance and thus he developed an addiction. So many surgeries, rehabs, etc…never married, never had children. I may read his book….
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Some of the images of Alice in Wonderland is truly scaring so I can imagine that at least some of those potions she took were really hallucinogenic… maybe this is a good song to illustrate it with:
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Great insight!
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Nice one Lillian. It was easy to climb out of the rabbit hole when we were very young!
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Ah the agility of youth!
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A fun poem, Lill, that made me smile, and made me think of Jefferson Airplane’s ‘White Rabbit’. ‘Only one Cosmopolitan’ and down the rabbit hole we go!
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Glad you enjoyed! Always happy to hand out smiles 🙂
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That artwork looks like that’s just what happened!
Poor Alice. I hope she gets some help. 😉
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Me too! I had this written and scheduled on WordPress and then read of the death of Mathew Perry….sadly, sometimes, people do not make it up and out of the rabbit hole….especially if they stumble into it several times.
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So true, Lillian!
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this hit the mark with me. I love Alice and my father was an alcoholic.
great poem
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Yes….alcoholism is a consuming disease. And for the recovering alcoholic, the rabbit hole is always just a step away.
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❤️
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So that’s what she was up to! Explains a lot.
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Love your comment here, Jane. Made me smile!
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Such a clever play on your prompt, and such a true rendition of how easy it is to let our vices rule. Brilliant piece.
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Thank you! Sadly, for an alcoholic, even a recovering alcoholic, the rabbit hole is always just one step away….and so hard but so important to avoid.
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Great take on the prompt.
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Thank you!
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Well done. It only takes one and down the rabbit hole you fall.
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Exactly!
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Lillian, part of me found this quite amusing
Except of course alcoholism isn’t the least bit funny. I know many in recovery from it, and it is always present in their being.
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It’s been interesting to see the responses to the poem. I didn’t write it meaning to be humorous at all….it was scheduled to be posted before I read of Mathew Perry’s death. But as I read it again, I can see how it has a lighter side…depends on your perspective. I’m told that Alice in Wonderland was actually written as a satire.
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Indeed, those rabbit holes have to be watched out for, as they can cause a lot of suffering.
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Yes, indeed!
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Luv that Alice print.
“drinking with Santa
tasted so good. ”
Nice one!!!
Much💛love
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I really like the Alice print as well. Glad you enjoyed the poem.
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Happy Halloween! ✌🏼🎃
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And to you….BOO!
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Gratitude for you my friend! 🙂🫶🏼✌🏼🍂🍁
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Ditto!
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This is so great – poem and picture!!
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Thank you!
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Such a clever poem, I know many people who suffer like this – drinking with Santa – drinking alone or with a fake, made me ask so many questions….
💞Suzanne
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Glad you enjoyed.
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Following on from reading the sobering comments above, I have been reading about Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll was his pen-name for ‘Alice’) to find any evidence of him liking a tipple of the Bottle. Nothing of alcoholism on Wikipedia!
Alice Liddell (who some think was his “model” for his Alice books) married Reginald Hargreaves, a cricketer/magistrate, and became a society hostess. Also the first president of “Emery Down Women’s Institute”.
Thank you for stimulating so many ideas and researches tonight! A good distraction from ghouls and pumpkins…
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And thanks for relaying that information to me! 🙂 Much appreciated. Glad you enjoyed my Alice.
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The art you chose is stunning, the quadrille equally so. Cosmos will do that, I say from real life experience.
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Smiling….I do enjoy a good Cosmo. Although I always ask the bartender to make it on the tart side. I don’t like them with syrup or overly sweet. Glad you enjoyed the art illustration and the poem!
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loved this.
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Santa pickled, Alice too, so funny, but with an undertone too.
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