The emphysema of night presses into our lungs
and I walk towards you like a thought I should not keep
no glow - only the purple bruise of air between us
your silence is jagged, honed as a blade
somehow, this view left me ... dismantled, piece by unseen piece
fear feels domestic here, like folded linen in a locked room
I dissolve before I can speak out loud
and still, I step closer because trust is the only light we are allowed
and when we finally reach for one another, it is not sight that holds us -
but the quiet certainty that neither of us will let go
Been coughing lately out of breath with regrets
Asthma? Emphysema? Bully pest upsets
My arms akimbo
at foul passing nimbo
Suffering succotash, I need a cigarette!
I Love You
Smokers of the world unite
Keep that ciggie burning bright
Nick O’Teen is having fun
Clogging, blackening the lung
Don’t you know that it aint smart
To let that fiend into your heart
There won’t be any looking back
After fatal heart attack
And when the girl that you adore
Says she’ll kiss your lips no more
She’s looking for a smoke free zone
Leaves you standing all alone
When you're just a year from death
Pleading, begging your next breath
Even though you've never seen her
Meet your new friend Emphysema
So smokers of the world unite
Keep that ciggie burning bright
You'll never have a friend so true
When every drag says, I love you
This mixed message was brought to you by
The Devil Himself Hua hua hua hua
They’ve been my constant buddies through experiences
bad and good
And like any close-knit friendships things don’t always go
as they should
Lately I’ve been coughing and running out of breath
Asthma? Emphysema? Cancer? It’s scaring me to death
When I run out, I panic like a climber about to fall
or a little lost boy looking for his mom
at a crowded carnival
Though they’ve been my family for over a hundred years—
their kinship I regret
But through all the suffering that they’ve caused—
I need a cigarette!
Hearing the words "touch and go,"
I sink into a quagmire of despair
Slipping and sliding on tears of fear
In a swamp of memories
I've but one brother, one sister
Artie's Covid battle unleashed ills
Pandora's Box opened to pneumonia
COPD and emphysema
Now the reaper knocks upon his door
I pray he does not answer
Separated by a thousand miles
I long to see his smile again
To hear his laugh just one more time
I'd follow hope's long road anywhere
Wrap him in the comfort of prayer
Use my shield of love to protect him
His chances tenuous at best
Anxiety chases dreams away
Lord, let me embrace him once more
Before You carry him home
Throw Them Away
By David J Walker
How often I saw him
Sitting,
Smoking
Drinking coffee
Early in the morning
Thinking
Worrying
Perhaps praying?
I cannot say
He would extract an
unfiltered Camel from a
half empty pack ,
the second left over from
each yesterday
Pinched between his lips
He would strike a match
the way he had done it
since he was 10
The sulfur and thin paper
And dried tobacco
Each with its own
distinct aroma
Fill the air with an innocent
Poison
A sophisticated flare
Of maturity
Mixed with percolating
black coffee
I wondered why
He rose so early
Every day
Just to sit in the dark
At the kitchen table
The glow of his lit
Cigarette
The only light
Commanding the complete quiet
Unnatural to house with kids
The “Late in life”
Would come too soon
At the invitation of emphysema
Among the things gathered
To give back to the family
Was a half pack of
Unsmoked cigarettes
Throw them away
I said
How are you keeping, ma’am, I’m
Fine, while below the surface my
Life’s a stack of newspapers, randomly
Blanketing the furniture, they block the
Ingress of outsiders, the egress of
Emotion, they help me keep track
Of what’s important, who’s died, who’s
Still alive, I search the obituaries
For who I know not, to
Know oneself, is this still the
Ideal, or naivety? what’s in plain
Sight is forgotten, and only serves
To collect dust, I’m slowly dying
Emphysema sets in, beneath the patina
Of memories, I still choose to
Give weight, but if you remove
All the excess,
Under the last layer you will find
The child
Whose wide eyes endlessly search for approval
Your identity is not the minutes
Of the meeting,
But the substance of moments
Well met
i think
i may
have
written this
once before
in a different
form and i'm
sure titled
impromptu
but i can
visit it in
memory
as if it's
happening
again and
again for
forever
when i
want to
remind
me of a
time in
my life
in JFK
waiting
for a de
parture
looking
in a heat
ing grate
a still lit
cigarette
had been
thrown in
then came
in a new
arrival the
oldest of
survival's
live a life
time even
after an a
bomb yes
lets hear
it for your
friend and
mine that
adaptable
instinctual
moves like
rapid stop
motion an
imation so
makes your
skin crawl
cockroach
yes ladies
and gentle
men he or
she made
it's appear
ance stage
right and
left with that
still smoking
gun to smoke
after making
love with its
look just alike
loved one but
exponentially
spreading some
new genes for
after the next
war but taking
a toll firstly on
the first one
that took the
first puff for
it did not
read
SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING:
Smoking Causes Lung Cancer,
Heart Disease, Emphysema, and
May Complicate Pregnancy.
To the ground, plastics, papers and metals
To the mixture, scrap, damaged tires and dirty pieces of cloth
Amid natural ecosystems
From whose laxation natural escapes
The flammable methane gas
Triatomic is the altered range of oxygen by the action
Of electric shocks on the heights
Whose total damage, with inventing the steam engine
And the development of the industry, then started
The harbinger that future generations
Would live in fear of climatic cloister
Sometimes the abuse, it seems that conforms
When in the forests, indiscriminately to millions
Killing pathogens, exacerbate emphysema
Of the Blue planet, whose fury is magma itself
That spares nothing and all-consuming in vindictive eruptions
There may be "Advantages" to smoking!
But, I can't think of any today!
It puts a great strain on your wallet,
but, it's really your lungs, that will pay!
Your clothes and breath will give you away!
They have that "Special" smell!
If you smoke in your car and your home,
they have that "smell" as well!
Young folks think, it's a sign of class,
and maturity, in a way.
Unfortunately, too late, they're gonna find
it takes their breathe away!
Yes, smoking, in time, will destroy your lungs!
But, you still could be all right!
You just, have to wear, an oxygen tank,
24/7 - all day and all night!
Eventually, you'll find it a chore, to walk
or go up and down the stair.
You must ride around on a scooter,
or maybe a nice wheelchair!
Why people smoke, is a mystery, for sure!
Since the redeeming features could be:
Cancer, Emphysema, Bronchitis,
and most likely, C.O.P.D.!
There is no law against, smoking,
and there is no "Advantage", that's true!
So, STOP, if you do - Don't start, if you don't!
The decision is up to you!
THINK ABOUT IT PEOPLE!
Emphysema…
So very deadly
Battle to breathe, loss of breath
Ultimate death by…
Asphyxiation
Russell Sivey
The Good Time Girl
She was beautiful in a floozy sort of way too much
lack in her hair and dramatic make up.
When I was young and before I married I used to
visit her when the need was there.
Well I got married and was happy for some time,
but my wife left and we divorced.
I visited the old tart again as she had been accommodating,
but her life style had taken bitter its toll.
She was glad to see me, but when she undressed her
body had cigarette burns that spoke for itself.
I put her dress on; she had a defaulting breathing yet
lit a cigarette… I called for an ambulance.
She died in the night of emphysema and I thought
why didn’t I love her instead of my ex wife?
It was like a
Circus arena
The arrival of
Hurricane Katrina
Coming down on Us
like Ike did Tina
Merely, plaguing Us
with emphysema
Which couldn't be cured
by FEMA
So, what were We to do
with No redeemer
Except to keep dreaming
like SELENA
Leaving Our Loved Ones to
put on the high beamer
When JESUS, Our Souls,
did subpoena
Emphysema is like
living underwater,
Surrounded by an ocean
of air,
Which just can't get
where it needs to be
Even if you lie quietly
In your home, your lair
You wake up gasping
As if you ran
Up three flights of stairs
And there are many moments
When you have terrible scares
It's uncurable
It's progressive
It's fatal,
And but a matter of time
you have left
And anybody's guess
Of how many years
you will have lost as a victim
To it's nasty theft
Inhalers, pills,
Nebulizer machines,
You'll do anything to breath
You'll go to any means
Some, like me
Find solace
Only in their sleep,
Others, I suppose,
Only when they weep
But it's the hand
God dealt me
And I accept it
For what it is
And long ago
came to grips
With what I face
in life
And hospital
visits
As familiar as
would be a wife
No one lives forever,
Save Jesus and Dracula,
And I have the advantage
One really quite spectacular
For I have a gauge
A hint of things to come
Makes every joy I taste
More savory than for some.
A pack a day,
An expensive way
To capture cancer,
Not a thing nice,
But I did it twice
Survived them somehow,
Operations did the trick,
And I know better now...
But cigarettes
Were not done with me,
Though I smoked no more,
It was too late for me,
Emphysema came to me
Incurable, progressive,
100% fatal I was to see
Lung weakness strained the heart
Now Ventricular Fibrillation had a part
Another killer, matter of time,
Bought some though,
With implanted defib which was now mine
To fill the pot of aging ails,
Arthritic pain now prevails
Some 2 dozen meds
To take each day,,
Over this I have no say,
Newest toy; seizures grand,
On the floor I often land
Near constant pain makes we cranky
Deppresion is my constant companion
It get ever close to "All yea, hope abandon"
And to top it off, chronic insomnia,
Stay awake eight days
Brain turns to oatmeal
I live in a purple haze.
I don't complain,
I don't beat my breast,
In God swearing agony
Whenever he wants to take me
Is more than okay, you see.
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