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Taller ... Prettier ... Smarter

John F. McMullen

I was talking
to an old friend
the other day
She told me
that she has
lung cancer
(which seems
treatable)

I said
I don’t remember
did you smoke?
She answered
Absolutely
It made me
        taller
        prettier
        smarter
She always had
a way with words

We felt this way when
we were young and
naive partially because
the media portrayed
smoking as cool and sexy

Humphrey Bogart
one of my favorites
always seemed to
have a cigarette
hanging from his lips

I remember him
lighting one in his
own mouth and then
passing it to his dinner
companion probably
Lauren Bacall
for her to smoke

Without recognizing
how Freudian this
was I thought it
the coolest thing

Bogart died at the age
of fifty-eight of
Cancer of the Esophagus

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