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Cigarettes and Empty Thoughts

Part of a series of poems "Cigarettes and..."

By Silver Serpent BooksPublished 6 months ago 1 min read
Top Story - December 2023
29
Cigarettes and Empty Thoughts
Photo by Aman Upadhyay on Unsplash

Oh Christ, I'm fucking hungry

For the cigarette days full of black coffee,

Tiny little jeans, and horrid aftershave

When I was a nail-bitten mess

Hopped up on so much caffeine

My dreams buzzed with it.

.

I'm fucking starving

For the taste of my own blood,

The reminiscent feeling of growing nostalgia.

Didn't I know that I would miss it?

The green tea, the rope around my wrist,

The rub of things always pissing me off?

.

I remember the color of the fridge,

Gunmetal gray through the cigarette smoke

And I can feel the burning embers warming

Perpetually cold hands,

Filling hopeless lungs that would otherwise

Drown.

.

Is that what I'm doing now, then?

Drowning.

It must be, because I can't taste the smoke

Or the tobacco

Or the beautiful, bitter black coffee.

I can only inhale thick, suffocating truths.

.

Those cloudy days are gone.

But I want to be back on the bottom.

I want to feel the hopeless shadows

Swirl around cavity-ridden teeth

And bite into poison apples

Until the carriage comes to carry me home.

.

I want to pretend the nightmares bother me

And lie about missing Jupiter in the three a.m. sky.

I want to sink my nails into my skin and hear it tear

And find comfort in knowing I am changing my suit,

My mask, my face, my soul.

I want to pretend I never overcame the darkness.

.

I want it to win.

I want to sink my teeth into a good fucking

That leaves me empty inside

With the taste of regret and that glorious flavour

Of burnt pancake house coffee

Floating on my tongue.

.

I want to pretend I won't see you again,

That I'll wait until midnight

When my car's out of gas

Until I'll call you.

I want to know I would have done it

No matter the time.

.

performance poetryMental HealthFree VerseCONTENT WARNING
29

About the Creator

Silver Serpent Books

Writer. Interested in all the rocks people have forgotten to turn over. There are whole worlds under there, you know. Dark ones too, even better.

Reader insights

Outstanding

Excellent work. Looking forward to reading more!

Top insights

  1. Eye opening

    Niche topic & fresh perspectives

  2. Easy to read and follow

    Well-structured & engaging content

  3. Heartfelt and relatable

    The story invoked strong personal emotions

  1. On-point and relevant

    Writing reflected the title & theme

  2. Compelling and original writing

    Creative use of language & vocab

  3. Excellent storytelling

    Original narrative & well developed characters

  4. Masterful proofreading

    Zero grammar & spelling mistakes

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Comments (12)

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  • Christy Munson3 months ago

    Love reading your voice. Beautiful way you have with words.

  • ROCK 4 months ago

    Damn you are one hell of a writer. I want to fall back into the time of my own fucked up-ness, not all of it, but the part when I didn't know why I was so jaded and rolled my own cigarettes and painted in my room with red wine and The Doors on my stereo.

  • Reading this I want coffee, I want cigarettes even though I quit, and I want to drown and remember all the people I’d like to think I’d call. Amazing poetry

  • Carol Daux5 months ago

    Entire work is highly relatable, emotion-stirring!

  • Carol Daux5 months ago

    On rereading I am entranced, grabbed by the lines "And I find comfort in knowing I am changing my suit, My mask, my face, my soul" LOVE that! Entire work is

  • Carol Daux6 months ago

    Gut punching! Nice!

  • Test6 months ago

    Well done! Keep pushing forward with your excellent work—congrats!

  • Caroline Jane6 months ago

    Very relatable and an excellent poem.

  • K. Kocheryan6 months ago

    Raw and intense. Congrats on Top Story!

  • Daniela Alejandra6 months ago

    Speechlees. I have never seen these emotions so perfectly captured. Visceral and raw. I can't wait to read more of your writing!

  • Cathy holmes6 months ago

    This is raw, powerful, and very well written. Congrats on the TS.

  • Gosh this was so freaking intense! Loved your poem!

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