Eric in the Dark

I wrote this poem in 1993 about one of my best friends, Eric J. It was actually published that year in a local literary magazine. Enjoy.

Such a lonely sight
was the boy who sat on the street corner
smoking a cigarette.

Half hidden in street light shadow,
his doubled over denim frame looked almost frail
sitting there alone.

He thought and
took a long drag off his cigarette.
Exhaling the smoke,
raising his eyebrows and
tossing that thought away.

Only one long drag remained on the smoke and
he took it...
then shot the butt across the street.
The little rocket landing, then sputtering out,
invisible in the darkness.