I've tried to give up poetry, As if it's some addiction. Sometimes I feel like an addict. Do you ever feel like that, you poets? Do you get my depiction? Addicted to the pen, Confined to your mind--your paddock. I feel like a ****** who's on it again, Writing another poem to a friend, For others to use it as I pretend. I'm addicted to the waves, As I'm tossed and blown about--their slave. They pull me asunder. Oh Lord, take me under. Blow my cover. Let me not be another fanatic on dope. That doesn't mean I smoke; I'm talking about words with emotion, But sometimes I get lost in this ocean. Compulsive to smoking, I'm writing this, hoping, That as my pen is the lighter And my cigarette is the page, I can light your soul on fire, While keeping the addict in his cage. May your demons choke on the brume By the words that are the smoke you consume.