Smoke Rings

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Smoke Rings

My father loved tobacco
in his navy days
Old tin can, rolled his own
cool one-handed ways
Rollin', lickin', lightin'
that first and deepest draw
When it comes to smoke-rings
Dad's the best I ever saw

When my dad turned forty
he just up and quit
For a while there we avoided him
he blew up a bit
Last year he turned eighty
forty years now clean
When it comes to quittin'
Dad's the best I've seen

I turned twenty-six in Athens
Smokes were forty cents
Bought a box on Santorini
been smoking ever since
That's not exactly true
I've quit fifty times at least
But eventually my teddybear
gets eaten by the beast

Don't smoke in the morning
keep moving until ten
Have a cup of coffee
gotta have one then
Hell of an addiction
get shaky when I stop
Got good at blowin' smoke-rings
but not as good as Pop

An interview with Vonnegut
different kind of cat
He said he is committing
suicide by cigarette
Sometimes I'll blow a smoke-ring
looking in the mirror
Stand there watching my own face
Slowly disappear

My father loved tobacco
in his sailor days
Old tin can, rolled his own
cool one-handed ways
Rollin', lickin', lightin'
that first and deepest draw
When it came to blowin' smoke-rings
dad's the best I ever saw

DL

The writer has not smoked a cigarette
since March 5th, 2005