A Cage Left Open

Addict

I. my desperate fingers explore the nightstand drawer like a search party looking for a missing child at nightfall- i need it

an ache awakens deep in my stomach, a hunger no food could ever satisfy

i grasp the cardboard carton and tear into it

in a fluid motion the cigarette dangles lit from my lips and i inhale inhale inhale until my ravenous lungs expand like a morning stretch

the hunger is gone and all that exists is the cooling burn of menthol in my throat

II. This water runs dirty, veins a raging river of tobacco and black tar.

Forest fires burn deep within these bones, creating smoke signals like an S.O.S. that will go unanswered until nothing remains but ash like that falling from the cigarette caught between yellowed teeth

I am a planet scorched, destruction carved into the smoking stumps of my forest

III. Existence begins and ends with flame against tobacco flesh

I breathe it to life and suddenly its nicotine kiss is the god I worship.

Its smoke spirals deep within me and each fiber of my being welcomes it warmth; it is the sun, its rays radiating against sallow skin.

My body screams for it like an infant screams for its mother- it will nourish my addiction like a mother nourishes her child.