Mr. Marlboro Man

[Brownlie]

Mr. Marlboro man:

I’ve seen you on the T.V. Mr. Marlboro man
You were a man
But I was not a man, and you were not that sort of man
I wished to be.

I saw you dying Mr. Marlboro man
Grey hanging tubes,
An oxygen tank
A stoma

Even then your voice was synthesized Mr. Marlboro Man
Robotic and raspy and I thought I’d never smoke.
But when life set me a cinder it proved back then I was just billowing smoke

I saw you Mr. Marlboro Man
But I didn’t care
You will not notice all the burned out butts for days
But they pile up and when you see them there is already too much
Perhaps it rained within a month
And the butts can become brown and crusted
They are the epitome of waste

I saw you Mr. Marlboro Man
But I didn’t care