ME AND/OR A CIGARETTE

I have left you
one cigarette
hidden
in its obviousness.
You pretend
not to smoke
when I'm not there.
However, the hole
will suck you
into it
quickly.
We both know
you could not help
making this mistake--
it is what
you've been built for:
agony.
Many have been made
for that. Even myself.

You'll reach
for me
& find
a cigarette:
tubular pleasure
timed.
By simple reason
you'll not need
to smoke it
but you will:
reason, you see,
my dear,
like love,
is irrational
and most difficult
to reason
with.

Norman Savage
Greenwich Village, 2014