Cigarette Break on Prom Night

Yellow lamplight flickers

The drone of cicadas, the press of April heat

A lone man sits, illuminated

leaning over a sickly pool of syrup

Six kids reflected

Sleepy-eyed, dressed in our finest

hundred dollar dresses

Packed like sardines against

sticky maplewood seats

Overworked waitress cries

Clockwork Orange with chipped acrylic nails

Passing Camels

from lip to chapped lip

Nervous laughter like

it’s more than just a cigarette, more than just a buzz

Peeling coats off so Mother won’t smell it——

Little loss of innocence

Relax, I’ve done this before

Amber flame flickers

across his teenage face

Eyebags and tan-lines and

acne sprinkled along his shoulders

Inhales and he passes,

newly James Dean,

he passes

Yellow lamplight flickers

Some small talk on light pollution

Suit jackets abandoned on the concrete

In the country there are twice as many stars

Oh yeah?

Yeah