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"Addicts"

Click the arrow on the audio player to hear Carol Muske-Dukes read this poem. You can also download the recording or subscribe to Slate's Poetry Podcast on iTunes..

Monsters, all of them. The ones who
gave one life, the ones who take life

Back. The big bloodbath: Family
Romance and hot woe: the Mom

Who shoots up, the Dad who flashes—
Sex fiends, hand-cranked snakes-in-

The-grass, uncles, aunts, boys & girls,
Gay & straight, rocketing up and down

The twelve steps to confront the big
Mocked sad-as-shit Self, mirrored

In the Times by the Depts. of War
& Good Works: breathing life

Back into those we need to kill
To restore Peace. There will be

Heaven-sent ideologies: every
Religion tweaked and sold like crystal

Meth. In the heart, in the vein—
What passes for Populism is

Set forth by the guy on the internet
Who wants to be eaten alive. Buddy,

We all want to be eaten alive, isn't
That finally It? You, me, a bottle of

Chateau Y'quem (1945), some techno-
Lute, Catullus' words piped in, just to

Keep us honest: and then, the Donner
Party all over again, but by choice this time.

.

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Carol Muske-Dukes is professor of creative writing and English at USC and poet laureate of the state of California. Her new book, Twin Cities, is forthcoming this fall.

For Slate's poetry submission guidelines, click spacerhereyeshyperlinkPoetry SubmissionsSlate reads new poems from Oct. 1 to April 30. Manuscripts sent between May 1 and Sept. 30 will not be considered.To submit poems: Send, as a single attached document, up to three poems of no more than 50 lines each to editors@slatepoems.com. Use the poet's name for the subject line of the e-mail and for the title of the attachment. We prefer Word documents (.doc or .docx) to PDFs.Please include a brief, professional cover letter, including publication history, in the body of your email. Please limit submissions to one per poet per annual reading period. Simultaneous submissions are OK. Slate no longer accepts poetry submissions by mail. The email address editors@slatepoems.com is for poetry submissions only (or to notify editors of acceptance elsewhere of a poem under consideration at Slate). Other inquiries, etc., will not be addressed.10000false220061444537PMWednesdayJanJanuary161/4/2006 9:45:37 PM63271989937000000020061444537PMWednesdayJanJanuary161/4/2006 9:45:37 PM632719899370000000.Clickhere to visit Robert Pinsky's Favorite Poem Project site.Click here for an archive of discussions about poems with Robert Pinsky in "the Fray," Slate's reader forum.