TWO: Four Years Later

Your blue eyes cross as you focus on the small
flickering flame that you hold so close
in front of your face.
Breathe in: whether you need it or not
the effect is still the same.
The thing about this stuff is...

i used to take simple pleasure in running
through fields of skeletal dandelions.
When those tiny dry parachutes take to the sky
and then float harmlessly down.
If they don't grow roots where they land
the field was already barren.
The thing about this stuff is...

The clouds roll in and it rains heavily
all through the night.
The smell of your chemicals hang in my hair,
in my clothes, and it burns my eyes.
The very worst are the words that cascade out of your mouth:
cheap explanations and unfinished sentences.
Suck it all in as fast as you can.
The supply is running low and the cost to replace it
is forever getting higher.
The thing about this stuff is...

When the earth runs out of places to accept its dead
and the tombstones out number the good people left alive,
where will we park our cars,
manufacture plastics,
fuck our prostitutes,
or plant our crops?
The thing about this stuff is...