Slippery Slope

by Mish (Eileen) Murphy


I thought she was cool,
and I desperately wanted
to be
cool, too.

My friend giggled
as she pulled out a pack
of unfiltered Marlboros
from under her mattress

that she’d “liberated”
from her big sister’s drawer,

plucked out two, and lit them,

sticking both cigs
in her mouth at the same time
(a trick I’d never seen done before).

Smiling, she passed me
my first
(but certainly not last)

cigarette.

I tried to look sophisticated
and sultry,
slowly blowing smoke
upwards,

suppressing
my first

(but certainly not
last)

coughing fit.


* * * * *

Mish (Eileen) Murphy is Assistant Poetry Editor for Cultural Daily (www.CulturalDaily.com). She teaches English/literature online at Polk State College, Lakeland, Florida. A Pushcart nominee, she has published two poetry collections—Fortune Written on Wet Grass (2019) and Sex & Ketchup (2021)—and a poetry chapbook, Evil Me (2020). Mish graduated with a B.A. from New College, Sarasota, in French /Russian, and Columbia College of Chicago, in Fiction Writing/Teaching of Writing. She is also an award-winning digital artist, photographer, and book designer.