Fall/Winter 2014
Artwork, “Addiction” by Niall Parkinson
The Life
A crack rock fries inside her pipe,
the girl takes a hit.
Seventeen and by herself,
she calls the ghetto home.
The girl takes another hit,
her name is Anabelle.
The shaded bags that line her eyes
grow larger by the day.
Anabelle sits on the couch,
her butane lighter hot.
Before she fries another rock,
she looks around her slum.
Her place is just a dirty hole,
a sign of trying times.
But life regards your battles lost,
as much as those you’ve won.
Anabelle sits on the couch,
and lights another rock.
She doesn’t take a hit this time.
The crack burns itself out.
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Stephen D. Nadaud II started writing short poems at the age of seventeen, mostly in the basement of his best friend’s house. He was first published ten years later, and his work can be seen in several online and print venues.