An Abbreviated Catalog of the Living

"Don't get me started on the whole drug thing."

 

I begin each day

with at least two coffees.

Or espressos.

Sometimes black tea.

 

I often second-guess myself.

And third-guess.

And fourth-guess.

 

I love the feeling of drinking a cold beer

in the sunny, hot afternoons

on my first days visiting Florida in the winter.

 

I hate heat.

I hate Florida.

I don’t really like beer very much anymore, either.

 

Christ, I’ve drunk a lot of beer.

 

Iron City. Schlitz. Stroh’s. OE800.

Expensive Michelob, overrated Coors, and many more;

and that’s what I drank long before they invented IPAs

and all those other pretentious excuses

for charging extra

for a simple, clean beer.

 

Don’t get me started

on the whole drug thing.

So much money,

so few memories.

 

I like fresh, local vegetables.

Anything you buy in a store that has a door —

C-Town, Whole Foods — 

is never going to be half as good

as the tomato

your bent old grandmother used to grow.

 

I hate when people talk

about the good old days.

 

Someday I’m going to write

a scientific philosophy paper,

unveiling Bob’s Law to the world:

 

“The better the technology gets,

the worse the content

provided by that technology.”

 

They’ve got 8K TVs

as big as a fucking bus,

and on them you can watch

The Bachelorette

in freaking high-definition horror.

 

But I love watching TV.

There, I admitted it.

Classic movies,

anything with Keanu

(except that John Wick shit),

and that show on HBO

with that guy on it.

 

Sex is good,

but I guess that’s something

we almost all share.

Sex, eating,

and clumsy body modifications:

things all cultures share.

 

I hate narcissists.

Especially when they talk over me.

And definitely

when they’re more clever than me.

Fuckers.

 

I hate Americans

even more.

 

I mean, sure, French people suck.

Canadians from Alberta.

Russians, too.

Sometimes Singaporeans,

but I know Americans,

and they’re all bad.

 

Did I mention

that I hate when people talk

about the good old days?

 

The days always sucked.

 

But the days are getting even worse.

Every day is the best day

of the rest of your life,

because they’re all going to be worse than today.

 

And today sucked.

 

I love being alive.

 

Love it.

 

Watch a friend die,

watch your family slowly disappear,

and yes, it’s sad, of course.

Heartbreaking.

But one day,

maybe a week later,

maybe a year later,

you get it.

 

It’s good to be alive,

right here,

right now.

Even through all the pain

and bullshit.

 

I love being alive.

Written on 25/03/2026 at SWHH

by Robert Cmar

Guest Scribe: Beatrix Delcarmen

Prompt: Write using repetition of the first part of a sentence.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Robert A. Cmar is exploring a second career as a hack writer. His fiction has appeared in The Offing and Bright Flash Literary Review, and he’s currently at work on his first novel. He credits SRHH with urging him to take bigger risks on the page — any complaints should be filed accordingly. https://substack.com/@robertcmar

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