Smoking Stupid

[Jae Mc Donnell]

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I remember her plated, bronze skin.
And when she talked about my soul,

how it was like a box of niceness, tied
with frightened pieces of cotton string.

She was naked and asked me for a cigarette,
like we were in a sexy movie from the '70's.

"Only for stupid folks," I said, rolling my eyes.
"Maybe it's time you started,"  she replied.

Been smoking a pack-a-day Old Golds
with thin lips ever since.

 Yeah know, I really like this. I actually really like the line "tied with frightened pieces of cotton string." What I take from this line is that this person, this "box of niceness" is afraid to fully show themselves, whether through social awkwardness or self-defensiveness so they feel seem bound by these things, these  "frightened pieces of cotton string."