i came here to cast a shadow: to burden, by overshadowing meager efforts of improptu.*

yesterday i was burning a "tattoo"
into my right hand with
a cigarette,
   which i later extinguished it on...
today i was clenching
a ice cube in the same hand -
clenched...
    the similitary of the pain was almost
undistinguishable...
so...
      who said hell was all about fire
and bbq? i tend to imagine hell
       as a solar eclipse, and as snow
and ice... the cold can prolong the pinch
of pain for much longer...
  plus it numbs,
unlike fire, where you're running around
like some frantic maniac.