By: Hope Morawa

Where do I be gin?

Call me Old-Fashioned, 
But being a bartender is pretty neat.
Now, from Manhattan to Long Island, 
Thousands of us out of work. 
Cut-off, in the mist of a global pandemic, 
Where social distillation is key. 
We’re 86ed from our home away from home,
With no proof of returning in the near future.

Soda story goes: 
Sure, working doubles made me groggy.
Slinging shots with customers, tequila time. 
Mimosa favorite part?
Having the Last Word behind the bar.
I was calling the shots
And Campari to other jobs, 
Olived it.

Let’s face it: being open right now is a little whiskey.
With the future of the bar industry on the rocks, 
It’s almost too much to beer.
There’s no point in being cordial about it. 
I can sit here and continue to wine, 
Let the bitterness consume me until I’m red in the face.
Mulling it over, as the financial strain hits like a Hurricane.
Wet’s left to booze?
Rye bother?

To shake, to stir, 
To pour no more.

Well-drink up, baby, and schnapp out of it. 
Saloon, we’ll be able to dive back into work, 
And Aperol this time, 
Dram, it’ll feel good to be barback. 

In the meantime, 
Remember the happy hours,
And Fernet the bad. 
One must roll with the punches, 
Shrub her shoulders, 
And hang up her bar rag to dry. 

Hope Morawa is a Brooklyn-based writer, bartender, trivia host, and self-proclaimed Hot Dog Princess of Brooklyn. Previous writing credits include Brokelyn, Bedford + Bowery, Metro US, and Barchive, with stand-up and podcast appearances on Awkward Sex and the City, Is That Embarrassing?, Riverdorks, and Buzzfeed’s Bring Me! 
You can catch her hosting Hope’s Virtual Trivia every Wednesday on FB Live! For more drunken musings and selfies, follow Hope on Instagram and Twitter: @havinghope10 

Thanks, Hope, for sharing your lament! I loved learning some new bar tending terminology here – I definitely Googled some of these (and now need to try fernet.). I’ll be sharing guest posts from NYC creatives whose careers are being affected by Coronavirus during this New York “pause”. If you’d like to learn more, read this previous post: COVID-19 in NYC: Everything is weird and scary and I want to help by paying you to write for my blog. Thanks for reading and STAY SAFE, NYC!