Poem #12: Poem for Eddie

Continuing our celebration of National Poetry Month, this recent poem revolves around the themes of alcoholism, loss, and death, and doesn't have much of a cheery theme either. But it's deeply close to my heart and represents an important and inspirational part of Jonathan's life journey:

First-generation son of Catholic immigrants
Eddie had a choice between life and drinking

And being drunk chose him: “The only thing I like to do is drink”
He laughed, dying one swig at a time

Eddie and Jonathan drank together, beginning at age 16
Then, at the bitter end of a decade, hospital beds and long wires

And dialysis, Eddie holding his mother’s hand
Detached retinas floating in thin pools of red

Searching for Jonathan—who himself feared death by bottle
At the time and certain if not Eddie, then him

Blood coagulating to a languid paste
Jaundiced fingers reaching—when Jonathan kissed Eddie

Goodbye, skin from Eddie’s forehead
Came off on Jonathan’s lips

Jonathan recovered from drinking one day
His best friend all dust and cautionary tales

Eddie had a decent job in voting booth technology
His dream to ease the burden for others to choose

"Poem for Eddie," copyright 2026 Amelia Cotter (first published in Gut Punch Literary Journal: Issue 1: Heartbreak, 2025)