Dry mouth

She lights a cigarette
and inhales one lung full of smoke
can feel it seeping between the spaces in her lungs
airways bearing a sickness and a medicine
Her mouth is dry
but she doesn’t mind so much
She doesn’t have anything to say anyway
at least nothing that won’t just seep between the spaces
So she keeps quiet
and inhales another fist full of relief
anything to avoid punching the glass on her bathroom wall
and breaking even more
her image of herself