like a cigarette lit filter-first,
i am cautious, acrid and discarded,
burning invisible against the exhalations
of those already smoking, their flame-runoff drifting
into and out of needy mouths. i die slower,
polyurethane against the earthy tones
of tobacco in a starlight haze of human cells.

i am the tonic mingled with their gin,
losing oxygen as i rub against the curves
of hydroxyl chains, our chemicals exchanging
hoarse love letters in the form of
my brief shouts bursting into the atmosphere
before i am forced to go flat.
this chance you may kill first,
but i know exactly how to bring you
to your worst.

you conduct an organic symphony,
dancing tangos with strangers before you
Wrap your sparkling hands around their throats.
i know that you are beautiful (...you monstrosity),
but in my slow advances i have bred
the will to hate, envy-fed and ripe,

my name, dark and mono-syllabic to keep
restless minds from getting lost, is buried in your
gilded waste, sparking hot and white beneath
the scum.

there is no sharper knife
than Time.