At this time of year, there are so many reasons to drink to excess. The forced gaiety of holiday parties. Prolonged contact with other carriers of your genetic material. Days that are nastily cold and brutishly short. The looming of that annual moment of reckoning — a.k.a. New Year’s Eve — when you tally your petty wins and stinging losses and discover (ouch!) on which side of the ledger you fall.

Who better to shepherd us through this season of mild melancholia and existential dread than a phalanx of hard-drinking poets, steeped as they are in thoughts of death, decay and poor book sales? For your viewing pleasure, we present a few of the nation’s most libertine bards as they imbibe on camera and read selections from the recently published, “In Their Cups: An Anthology of Poems About Drinking Places, Drinks and Drinkers.”

Pour your favorite poison, and let’s all raise our glasses to foolish dreams, persevering in the face of impossible odds and the restorative power of an occasional bender. Cheers!

Poet: A.J. Rathbun

Current location: San Martino, Italy

Poem: “The Skirt Story”

Poet: Emily Bedard

Current location: Seattle, Washington

Poem: “An Honorable Life”

Poet: Amy Fleury

Current location: Lake Charles, Louisiana

Poem: “Assumptions”

Poet: Ed Skoog

Current location: Seattle, Washington (via New Orleans)

Poem: “The Last Saturn Bar”

Inspired? Post a link to your own drinking and versifying video in the comments.