Crossing the Bar 2

Crossing the Bar 2

I take out
a hand colored chap book
of poems

about a toad
with a bad
attitude

and split the thing
wide open
to the center,

roll a big fatty
of two parts self-conscious
ostentatiousness

and one part
down home
resilience.

I can tell
I'm
in the right place,

and
the lessons
are going to

come hard
but
not fast.

She says
she doesn't
smoke,

but volunteers
to give out
super chargers,

so I lean back,
take a deep breath,
allow our lips to meet,

and go
until it turns
into a French inhale,

and she winks
like that,
takes a sip,

turns her head,
and never looks
back.