One night
I was a werewolf,
but that got out of hand.
One night
you were a peach,
but I preferred fresh
over canned.

The blood scent was strong
and on your collar,
or was it spaghetti sauce?
We meandered in
the lost city of angels,
but those women
in the maternity ward
were better shape-shifters.

Couldn't see if the moon
was full against
the polluted skyline,
(but I bet it wasn't).

Then somewhere
down the tracks,
the howler (that's you),
half a dream away
on some deserted block,
and flat on your back
like a pancake,
with the nightmares
stacking up,
and dripping
with strawberry syrup.

Or was it blood?
(I bet it wasn't).

Crackling cancer, the glimmer of light
mixed with the fog
I see him beckoning, calling out in that morning smoke
He's waiting for me.

You were the definition of
             Satisfaction.
You were the    blood
                                  in my veins, and
the smoke     in my lungs.  
I was addicted to you in the worst of ways.
It was you who could quench the eternal thirst at my lips. And it was you who could satisfy the ravenous hunger in my bones.
You were everything I needed all at once. And You gave me everything I ever wanted.
A love that
                  consumed  
                             me.

Sometimes I'm the boy
who stood helpless
on my grandmother's porch
looking down the hill
upon Hell's fire
and the black plumes
that pushed men
into early graves

–Ron Gavalik

smoke across the trees
jade leaves whisper
swinging from the wind

Our love was like fire but now my tears extinguish the flame, watch our dreams go up in smoke and see the beauty come out of ashes

I could only watch the fire,
burning all that I hold dear,
all because of that ******* liar,
and my salvation nowhere near.
The flames went so high,
and the smoke even higher,
I couldn’t see a single star,
and all the people just walked by.
I wished to run really far,
to escape this burning light,
where it wouldn’t be so bright.
I coughed, my lungs filled with smoke,
and my heart slowly broke,
as I turned around,
away, from the crackling sound.
I was the liar – to myself lying,
saying, that I wouldn't wake up the next day, crying.
But I am a little bit glad,
now I can stop living in constant fear,
leave my old life here,
and that doesn’t sound so bad.
Sometimes, you need to burn down the things,
stopping you from spreading your wings.
Ahead I could see,
a new life, new me,
towards which I started to walk,
behind me leaving only smoak.

It left me burning. I expected hollow, but never the all together searing smoking pain. An eternal scalding I cannot shake. I envisioned my eyes aglow, instead my inside set ablaze

Curling tendrils of tobacco haze
engulf the tiny space, hang like
ringlets over shots of whiskey
and mugs of warm beer. A solitary
dancer moves, bracelets janglin’
and eyes heavy with kohl, captures
old men in mid drink as her hips
sway to Nina Simone. Her bronze skin
glistens with the hot stares of the
audience; she soaks it in, twirls on
bare feet in perfect time as the
high priestess of soul bewitches
us with heavy grooves. I close
my eyes, tap fingers against glass,
whisper Nina’s words into the smoke
and breathe them back in again.
This is jazz, I think out loud,
this is pure unadulterated heat.

I will forever wish I was a girl of honey and glass like the one you sang about when you watched as she skipped down the boardwalk with the most breathtaking smile painted across her lips. But no matter the number of shooting stars I wish upon i remain the girl of smoke and tears, while she sweeps the world off its feet. It's not envy that fills my eyes, admiration neither. but a longing, a hope that one day i'm not "less than".

A.C.