journal
________

You know how everyone says they
Smoke ‘cause it relaxes them?
Well, I say that's bull!
People smoke because they don't know what to do.
Because there's nothing else to do when shit happens.
Because first it's one thing, then it's another, and another . . .
And first it's one cigarette, and then another, and another, and . . .
Well, I guess what I'm trying to say
Is that, for you,
Today,
I smoked my first cigarette in months.
And God!, was it relaxing.
And as I exhaled I said aloud, "Thanks buddy,"
Like an alcoholic just pushed off the wagon,
Cursing the circumstance that made this happen.

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