Contemplating a Cigarette

Bathroom doesn’t have enough ventilation
Paint fumes saturate this part of the house
Painter escaped the bathroom fumes
Chemical bashful, crept far as the bedroom
Parched eyes, nose, and mouth
It burns a little with every inhalation
Crush the red glow
Sparkle, flicker, clear glass refractions
Stingy swirls gray the moonlight cuts

Bed is a soft and solid mass underneath
Easy to ignore
Allergy-wracked menace in the room next door
Cough, sniffle, tissue-blow
Not so easy to ignore
Extra effort to indispose both cars
No room for escape, insurance blame
Out of hand
Ember ash butt bed with a cold glass frame
Light another cigarette
Inhale the burn
Not out of hand

~RMKS, June 24, 2004

Thank you for indulging