Cigarettes cause
fatal lung
disease,
a
young man beautiful sits,
listening
to
the blues,
music about
loss.
And
what does he know about loss
because I am the one who will lose him.
He sits
At three in the afternoon
a permanent fixture at
the bar
beneath the neon light, which
I think should only shine at
night.
He sits,
for me to
memorize in my notebook.
He sits,
smoking why not
in the
red light, and a
fly
dies on the windowsill.
Cigarettes cause him to use
two packs of
sugar
for every cup of
coffee,
and glancing into my black cup,
I feel that his is darker, more
bitter,
no matter how much sugar.