It’s a strange thing I can’t wrap my head around

How the lack of something can make your head and heart pound

It’s behind the dumpster at work

Adults like teenagers sneaking out

Every hour to regain their perk

That potent substance exerts its clout

How does it begin

As a desire to be cool, accepted, or thin?

Some start as teens, some even younger

I guess as a way to escape reality or hunger

A poison between two fingers

They give it a lift

To the lips

A deep breath in then out and then the smoke lingers

What happens inside the bloodstream

The nervous system, the lung tissue, the heart

At the spreading of the nicotine

How long’s it take

Before it’s pleasant

How long till your last puff

As your skin wrinkles

And fingernails club

Will you ever have enough

Too bad once you do, you can’t stop

It’s on your breath in the office

Embedded in the seats of your car

Interwoven in the arteries of your heart

Till you have no retirement

And all your oxygen is spent

Who is the bad guy in the story?

The adult stranger who gave you one

Your “friends” who tempted you

The celebrity on the screen

Or the politicians for not banning it

How is it fashionable to die in nicotine

Its absence makes you mad

How can it be so bad

Your feet tingle, you have no umph to mingle

You’re on the edge, starving

Coughing

Don’t give back in

It’s a coffin