When He Gets Serious

When he gets serious,

he likes to strip, and smoke –

as if to take a toke of burning toxin

might provoke the right delirious

experience – to stoke the embers

at the center of the locus of the spirit

and invoke the fires he aspires

to become. He risks becoming numb.

But lord, he likes to smoke –

to stroke a thought – belie it.

Sounds harrowing to us –

but we might try it.





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