Oxygen (A Love Poem)

Oxygen

in its purest form

is toxic.

Prolonged exposure may lead to 

chest pain, trouble breathing, 

nausea, twitching;

death. 

In its diluted form

It takes years.

Seventy seven on average.

The Marlboro man told me so.

Good thing you like my voice raspy

Don’t mind cottonmouth 

And have a James Dean poster hanging in your room.

After heavy breathing, you insist we sit

On singed silk sheets, against yellow paper walls

Chain smoking to compensate 

For the poison ingested.

And soon the streetlight 

Framed by an airtight window

Fails to cut through the haze

And soon we lose sight of ourselves

There on singed silk sheets,

Caught in the haze.