Smoke

the smoke
                    entangles in her fingers
                                                            like a dark creature
ready to attack slowly,
                    unexpectedly, until it
                                                                                                                                                    rips out her soul

        It smiles a horrible
        grin at me and laughs,
                                knowing that there is
                                            nothing I can do to stop it
    to even begin

                                                                                    Grayish black,
                                                                                                                            etches creases in her
                young face, pours
                                out of her mouth
                                    choking her

                                                                        She stands up,
                                                    an it follows behind
                                                                        a trail of soot
                                            and a stench of
                                                                            death

        She smiles as
                        she asks for another
                         box at the cash register,
                                                                        selling her life
                                                away for the pleasure
                                            of a puff of the
                                                        dark, deadly
                                                              ghost
 

Dedicated to my friend Jody

Melissa Upfold, Canada