tweakers refrain

tweakers outside the wal~mart

sucking on cigarette butts

dirty jeans and fingernails

hoodies draped on heads

faces scabbed and scarred

remaining teeth stained

ghostly hollow frames

evidence of life in decay

standing out there on Sunday afternoon

nothing else to do

watching life as it passes

no expressions on their face

asking for change, for another smoke

anything anyone can spare

no shame, no inhibition

weakened waste laid bare

with a twinge I pass the collective

of character actors in this scene

I’ve come so far I’ve almost forgotten

that lives still end up like this

change of scenery, location

pinpoints on a map

souls are lost everywhere

it doesn’t matter where you land

closing the car door

I catch the scent of the cigarette’s smoke

and remember when that was my breath

smoking them end to end

when the line cut with a sharpened blade

sucked up through a straw

was the only thing that entered my soul

there, but for grace, did I go~