He lights up a cigarette
Puffing like the junkie caterpillar
Whom Alice encounters on her journey into Wonderland.
I draw blood from my lip while contemplating
Why his always burns faster than mine.
The June breeze extinguishes it out halfway.

I pull his worn hoodie over my trembling knees
Appearing as a human billboard for some remote college
That neither of us have ever heard of;
Or anyone in this small town to be exact.
We always said we would escape this unmapped place;
Grow wings and fly as far away as we could get.

He covers my forehead in menthol kisses;
The affection as distant as the Man on the Moon.
He helps me up after I settle from the baby's kick.
We slowly walk as we dodge the Pascagoula waves
And silently watch as the wind carries away
Cigarette ashes and lost dreams.