The Anneslee Poems: Free Speech

You part your lips

for the cigarette

and inhale all the words

you should’ve said.

The smoke comes out

bitter and stale

like all the feelings

you keep stuffed in.

If you’d had your wits

about you,

you’d said so much.

But you couldn’t think,

couldn’t speak,

couldn’t make the hate

come off your tongue,

so you brought it home

to stay

like a bad cold

that turns

into the bubonic plague –

killing everyone

with one single blow

of your nose.

Let the hate roll out

of your mouth

instead of down

your throat

and maybe,

just maybe

we’ll make it

until morning.