imagine us uncles

by Matthew Stokdyk

glass pipe disavowed
of substance
dissolved to air
to ravage like fire

unlike your dormant hearth
cold unblessed
winter gripping the island
as you made plans for spring

but blood stopped running
in the frigid air
for four months
despite the thaw

but like spring steam rising
amphetamine fumes
cleared more
than the sinuses

the bleeding again
like April rains
driving one future
to the surrounding Atlantic

which roiled back
against the shore
plans for the other leaving
lost in the chill