Quill & Parchment: Smoke

Smoke
by Isis Runnels

I entered bachelor heaven
smothered
that smell familiar in some primitive way
never mind it’s fading now
smoke
dancing in the sun
that distant thought of carbon monoxide
I drift to the door my face hot
Air !
that smell again after I close the door
it smells like a brothel in here
hot, thick, cheap, and heavy
cover a giggle behind my hand
your stares questioning
shrug of my shoulders
some verbal response
I’m concentrating
I say with my body
“don’t talk to me
I’m trying to remember”
observe his balding head
he’s quiet in an ignorant way
be kind don’t say anything mean
I hear Grandmother’s words in my head
telling me I’ll have ugly children
I mouth the words my body is my weapon
arm myself
when I think I hear movement above
just the house shifting

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