Monday, December 8, 2008

5 Cigarette Meditations (Poems) by Glen W. Cooper


5 Cigarette Meditations
by Glenn W. Cooper

1.

He fries steak,
cigarette between
his lips, dropping
ash into the pan
like someone else
might add onion
or mushrooms.

2.

As though exploring
the ruins of Pompei –
an ant crawling in the ashtray.

3.

Nail polish
chipped like tiny
abstract paintings,
fingers yellowed
from too
many cigarettes --
her hands
some kind of
decadent work
of art
I can’t help
studying.

4.

Photo of Kerouac
on the fire escape
at East 7th Street, coolly
smoking a cigarette, hand
in pants pocket,
book of poems stuffed
in jacket pocket ,
gazing across the city
at something
the rest of us can’t see.

5.

High school toilet block –
cigarette smoke
drifts across the urinal:
tough kids.

Author bio:

Glenn W. Cooper has been publishing in the small press and beyond for about 7 years. His latest books are "Some Natural Things" via Kamini Press and "Rimbaud In The City" from Kendra Steiner Editions.