Once while reading Seamus Heaney’s Field Work I came across a poem “Casualty” that’s about a central component of alcoholism: the disease tells you what to do. As Jimmy Logan used to say, “When I drink I got a manager.” I mean that’s my take on the poem. The central character in the poem is a fisherman, friend, a solitary drinker, and mentor of sorts, whose natural environments were the ocean and the pub.
“He was blown to bits
Out drinking in a curfew...
“He was blown to bits
Out drinking in a curfew...
