THANK YOU, for M.
by Robert Alter
I.
we had free coffee:
he indulged himself while
I spread my memories before him
and then my romances
he lost it,
snapped it,
and left the rest for
poorer fellows.
I said,
read me you poems
so that I am not alone, now
I told them that: I am still drinking here!, yet,
I am an engram; do not forget!, and
bah! to the scrivening! nous sommes la fête!, so
do not unburn that cigarette.
II.
do not unburn that cigarette;
straight and narrow the poem was
but sweet
with my pen,
copy your soul and
when I am lost I will read it
and read it
and I will recast something
from it
cherish it,
and inhale light
and life from it
straight and narrow,
your nicotine nothings
are my secondhand somethings; ah, oh thus,
speakest not different
do not regret,
do not unburn your cigarette;
damned and lost, reburn & reburn and reburn
that cigarette.