meditation on night

meditation on night

adri worked her way

though a cheap pack of cigarettes with one

melting out the spout of her mouth gritted in

her teeth like

the bitten straw of a child

she painted her nails

tapped the ash off the edge

piling like an anthill on the floor

and returned to see a dent in her thumbnail

scoffing she slid

another streaky coat

across, starting at the bud–

though the paint did not fill the

groove

it only made a thicker presence–

and sniffed the scent of her

body glittered perfume

smeared across her clavicle

she tapped the ash back on the floor

carpet threatening to burst into flames

she

adri

holding a hand mirror between her toes

and i watched her fluorescently lit face

from a bush outside her window