It could only
mean that you had steel
wool for lungs
and a cast iron carburetor
for a heart because
tough guys
like you always tasted
a few pubic hairs
with every drag
which is why
every time you had to smoke
you also needed a little whiskey
to sizzle out any
cancer silk
stuck between your teeth
And your soft cellophane
package of unfiltered Luckies was small enough
to fit in and be played with
by your palm the same way
you nervously turned up
and around
your chrome Zippo
lighter or tape measure
on the mahogany countered bar --a sign of DO NOT DISTURB
--Tradesman
or blue collar worker
mourning
a lost hot rod youth
too much Vodka
in your DNA
and machine oil in your chromosomes
And is it a cold sore
or lesion
in your soul
spreading
what only a drink and a cigarette
and the most raw and strong and
above all bitter
that will stop
the defoliation
of your spirit
If only
you could have learned
how to share to speak
the way you once on the field
learned to fight to dominate
and now when you cannot even be master
of yourself
with now
a restless hollowing
and turning
of a loss that only continues growing
