Cigarette Pantoum

I knocked on my Aunt’s door; “Who’s this beautiful girl?”

She sets down her cigarette as if she’d never smoke again,

lifts her head towards the sky, and blows the smoke above my head.

She tells me I have the most beautiful legs.

She finishes her cigarette before saying she’d never smoke again.

Sitting upright on the couch she looks at me confused,

“How did you get such beautiful legs?”

She grins revealing her browning teeth.

Lying on the couch she looks at me confused,

as if I was a familiar stranger sitting on her chair.

She gives a polite smile revealing her browning teeth,

lights the next cigarette and talks to my mom.

I am a stranger sitting on her chair,

in her hospital room, next to her bed.

She then asks for a pack of cigarettes from my mom,

who respectfully declines and holds her hand

One last time she asks me “Who’s this beautiful girl?”