We were the Aluminum Cowboys

Here is a link to my you tube channel where I read my poetry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz70MOS_JX8

It didn't matter if it was
August, and the air felt like an
oven on broil, or if it was
February, and the dumpsters
were icecicles to the soul.
We needed booze, and since we
didn't have jobs, the cans, at
5 cents a piece were our
aluminum tickets to sweet relief.
The magic click.
Enough cans meant a bottle of
whiskey
vodka
gin,
anything to dull the
sharp, vivid pain of life.

We sifted through
cat s**t
catsup
dirty diapers
discarded porno mags,
and all the other
garbage from the
rich and the poor.

One winter morning,
I threw back a heavy metal lid,
and there was a fat
raccoon looking up at me.
If Bacchus or Dionysus were
smiling, we found a
full bottle.
It happened once in
a while during summer when
the college kids headed home.

Miles of walking,
freezing or burning up,
We were the aluminum
cowboys.

Author's Note

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz70MOS_JX8
Here is a link to my you tube channel where I read my poetry from my books, the latest being Sleep Always Calls, they are available on Amazon. I have a website...link below
#www.thomaswcase.com

Reviews

[emmajoygreen]

Life has a billion ad infinitum dimensions that most of us know little or nothing about. But you in a few lines have offered a fat as hell gaze at a day in the life of YOU. We know little about the truths or otherwise of our being here, only what is offered, shown. For me your post centres on truth and little else, it hurts because tis true, it inspires because it take courage to write with one's core as well as merely a writer's skill. Bluntly, your skill is that of a human being who has lived and is still living however your routes or barriers admit or disregard. You are very much your own keeper - and admired.

[Thomas W Case]

Thank you so much. Very kind.

[Desert Knave]

I recall diving through many a dumpster in my day. Cowboys indeed, but we got what we craved after enough adventure. Well done. ~Jim

[Thomas W Case]

Thank you my friend.

[red93]

Shockingly vivid portrayal of what the real and tangible evils of the demon alcohol can do to a person. 'There but for the Grace of God go you and I'. They certainly don't print this on the Adverts for Budweiser. Exceptional ✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️

[Thomas W Case]

Thank you, my friend.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

"There was a young cowboy, who lived on a hill. His horse and his cattle were his only companions" (J.T.) ...and maybe a racoon or two...

If we want something badly enough we will do anything to get it, even scavenging through dumpsters...and sometimes we find a treasure along the way.
j.

[Thomas W Case]

So very true. Thanks for reading.

[Michael Sun Bear]

You paint a vivid picture Thomas, and I know the need, brother. I admire your willingness to write and share with others some of the rocky bottomland of your life, jail, scrounging for aluminum to sell and buy booze, some of the crazy times. I will remain a fan as long as you keep writing.

[Thomas W Case]

Thank you. Much appreciated.

[John the Baptist]

Thomas, you have led an interesting life. This is the first memoir of scavenging for booze money I have seen here. But you have risen above it and now make literary use of those previous times. Good for you.

[Thomas W Case]

Thank you, my friend.

[Pete]

a rodeo that i know all too well. brings back many memories and stories. truth can be sweeter than fiction.

[Thomas W Case]

So true. Thanks, Pete.