I
Chase the dragon
from Japan to Denmark
to Bolivia to Egypt:
chase that high

II
The needles
we’ve discarded, red and green,
like watermelons
brought the world to our veins
and our cores-
swimming in the bloodstream

III
The smell of green smoke
reminds me of your perfume
which smelt like cherries
like love and amnesia:
a strange nostalgia

IV
Smoke to run from the abyss
(a self-induced kidnapping)
take pills to forget
(watch the problems
race away in balloons)

V
Knights and clowns alike
(stereotypes)
are locked in a game of chess
an eternal game of tag
(don’t get caught
for chasing that high)

VI
the more I smoke
the more coherence I lose
the more I take
the less sense I make
but in the milky fog
of half-consciousness
I saw your face
(and dreamed of paradise)

VII
“Perhaps, this was why.”

VIII
I am losing coherence
(The syringes are empty
the pouches spilled
my eyes are red
but I’m not sure
if it’s the tears
or the drugs)
but
now
I hang
I swing
I am higher than ever
I am high
but alas
I am not mighty