Amigo

the already
cramped space
of this car is completely
filled with smoke

cigarette smoke
distillate smoke

we were so
disheveled and broke
when we both wrote home
about how much money and how much time
a nine-to-five can steal from you

how it costs more than just hours
how it takes pieces of a life that
was never meant to be sold

you hold
that anything outside
the golden age of rock and roll
is garbage

but even that cliché has played itself out
so I keep a playlist when I drive

couldn't you
hear me shouting?

I told him I was finishing
what I was doing

what were you doing?

reading a poem

a poem about what?

I don’t know
about life
I guess

and he said
I like poems about death

every poem is about death
and anyone who says otherwise is lying