the many lives (and deaths) of the cigarette
by Oke Mbachu


Smart, lit bomb; dirty bomb,
infinite detonations per second.

Smoking gun, butt in mouth.
Triggered once.
Pulled over and over again.

Toxic penis fucking
the thighs of your fingers

As you perform
oral sex on it.

Gray-haired old man
diminishing,
cremated alive.

(You bury him under your sole
or toss him out the car window.)

CPR,
inverted.

This misdirected rocket,
ember-tipped,
exploding into your spaces,

Rediscovering the country,
debris scattered to raw parts.

The smoke settles, sinks
into darkened land.

Soon, the body wants
the war again.






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