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We're all made of Cigarettes by ~onyxabrasion:icononyxabrasion:

Categories Literature > Poetry > Human Nature > Open




"For a good time call" is written across a dirty bathroom mirror
In lipstick, a whore’s red,
And under it a sticky note with a phone number...
Guess they ran out of lipstick.
Inside a filthy bathroom stall
Carved into the cheap and rusted metal separators
Are the words "Max was here   X"
And beneath that, "Max is a fag"
And further beneath that, "You’re all fags for writing that."
The toilet water is a pale tea colour from the cigarette dropped into the bowl
And the piping from it is sweating and cold.
It’s so humid here, the air thick and poisonous,
A nasty smell swirling in the nasal passages of the unfortunate and desperate,
The urinals have never seen a cake and the toilet has never tasted comet;
The faucets drip and the door barely closes,
The sounds of the street life echoing through the brick room,
Sirens ringing and gunfire echoing...
Hardly an escape.

   And in a dirty corner of the bathroom
In full view to those who entered,
Sat a twelve year old boy, one leg flat against the ground,
The other bent at the knee for an arm prop,
A cigarette in hand, smoke dripping from his lips.
He smiles, chuckling to himself about something before he takes a long drag of the stick of cancer.
One deep exhale and he leans his head back against the grimy wall,
Hair becoming even dirtier than before,
Bare chest dripping with the sweat from the humidity.
He inhales again, holding the cancer in his lungs before releasing it with another chuckle
      "Ahh yes....
   This is the life..."
©2004-2009 ~onyxabrasion
:icononyxabrasion:

Author's Comments

Part of: A Poet's Journal by Melissa Richardson
Copyright: Melissa Richardson - 01/04/01 - Present
All modifications made by original author (documented or undocumented) are involved and included in the copyright. All versions, be they old or new, are also copyright to Melissa Richardson. Theft, be it of art, literature, cds, cars, etc. is punishable by law. If you steal, copy, or plagiarize any of my art or literature without my EXCLUSIVE WRITTEN PERMISSION, I will sue your pants off.

Edit: ***PLEASE NOTE, I DO NOT GET NOTIFIED BY DEVART IF YOU FAV THIS. PLEASE, IF YOU DO FAV THIS, TELL ME IN YOUR COMMENT.*** Thankyou.

Life inspires odd pieces I suppose. I watch teens with bad home lives, drug and alcohol addictions, low self-esteem, violent and uncontrolable tempers and so much more day in and day out. I've witnessed those who have put themselves in bad situations and those who were born into them and I've watched them react, adapt, or fall prey to them.

There are people who live with the downfall of society without choice, or with choice for that matter, who live in the streets and live with no rules, own their own world and suffer consequences of the law with the attitud of: "It's only illegal if you get caught."

I guess this is just a snippet in a moment of some streetchild's life. Did he chose to be there? Is he a runaway? Did he leave a bad situation to find salvation in independence, even though we may see streetlife as a bad situation in and of itself. Is he an orphan? Or is he just an unfortunate person to break down in the middle of a bad area of town during a gang war? You decide.

Hope you enjoy, would love to hear critique about this. I'm rather proud of it.

We're all made of Cigarettes ©Melissa Richardson ~

Comments


love 0 0 joy 0 0 wow 0 0 mad 0 0 sad 0 0 fear 0 0 neutral 0 0
:iconalexanderfrost:
~AlexanderFrost Jul 29, 2004, 10:13:15 PM
Vivid imagery, and powerful. You can truly see it, and as sick as most public restrooms are, this just makes them seem...well, more than sick. Almost alive, and dangerous, as though it's consuming the boy's life just by his being there. The environment seems more deadly than the poison he's smoking so happily.

--
"There is no freedom in your skies."

- Alister, Last Exile
:iconohboblyone:
~ohBOBlyone Jul 29, 2004, 10:13:29 PM
:clap: i like this..wonderful job. I love everything about it...:nod:

--
You don't die from a broken heart -
you only wish you did.

Use me ~OhBOBlyone-Stock
:icononyxabrasion:
~onyxabrasion Jul 29, 2004, 10:19:21 PM
Thanks

--
Jesus may love you, but I think you're an asshole.
:icononyxabrasion:
~onyxabrasion Jul 29, 2004, 10:21:18 PM
Thanks

--
Jesus may love you, but I think you're an asshole.
:icononyxabrasion:
~onyxabrasion Jul 29, 2004, 10:33:05 PM
Thanks

--
Jesus may love you, but I think you're an asshole.
:iconlyesmith:
*Lyesmith Jul 29, 2004, 10:35:10 PM
i don't know WHY you want any critique on this. this poem is so .. real, you know?because i know that in some poor part of the city, a 12 year old boy is doing just that.
and he just sits there, with his life dripping away minute by minute, cigarette by cigarette, and he doesnt even care.
this is so gorgeous. i can't explain, really. from this day on you are my poet hero. ( my art hero is my art teahcer, the place is taken! >_<;)

--
Why in the pluperfect hell would you pee on a corpse?!
:icononyxabrasion:
~onyxabrasion Jul 29, 2004, 10:40:50 PM
LOL I'm not much of an artist, or a poet for that matter. I don't deserve to be a hero. Glad you like it though. Thanks.

--
Jesus may love you, but I think you're an asshole.
:iconalexanderfrost:
~AlexanderFrost Jul 29, 2004, 10:57:35 PM
Like Hell you aren't an artist or a poet. You're one of the best, as much as you deny it. You've always had a lot of talent, and I'd back that in any argument. Don't downplay yourself so much. You've got skillz. ;)

--
"There is no freedom in your skies."

- Alister, Last Exile
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