secondhand

Tristan Robert Lange

the glass is rose-colored
the drink
 
still looks black as cancer
and spreads
 
just the same
in me
 
a flaming flurry
of fear
 
forever fomenting inside
death chills
 
full like still-term births
not worth
 
aborting that which
is dead
 
but not without
the dread
 
of a martian on venus
v-day’s
 
voracious viper vapes
venom
 
and I’m left inhaling
the smoke
 
secondhand
 
© 2025 Tristan Robert Lange. All rights reserved.
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Comments +

Comments7

  • orchidee

    Good write T.

  • arqios

    Potent and a darkness burgeoning at every turn ! 🙏🏻🕊

    • Tristan Robert Lange

      Thank you! Much appreciated, my friend. Glad it delivered. ❤️🙏

      • arqios

        Way more than delivered, the payload actually moved my track of thinking… I suspect that I shall never be the same again 🙏🏻🕊️akin to reading Poe or King.

      • sorenbarrett

        Ah metaphor deeply planted in this poem. There may be many interpretations but the first one that took me was passion that never matured to love and was still born. Reluctant to release such a relationship it continues venomous and is second hand smoke. A wonderful write worth a fave.

        • Tristan Robert Lange

          Thank you, Soren. Indeed, there are many ways to interpret this, but your analysis is quite astute. Thank you, so much, my friend for your time and feedback! Always appreciated! ❤️🙏

        • Poetic Licence

          Well this is a dark one, passion that has died a nasty death before it move on in to anything more than passion, yet it is still seeping it`s poison, Great read

        • Thomas W Case

          Superb

        • Cheeky Missy

          There's nothing like secondhand smoke, they say, and the image sinister, how eerily the lines daintily tread the page down, down, down to a haunting end, their poignancy rampant. Thank you for sharing.

          • Tristan Robert Lange

            Thank you, my friend. I am glad the poem and its imagery delivered. You analysis is most appreciated, dear poet! ❤️🙏

          • Cassie58

            Dark as dark can be with some quite alarming imagery. Your poem certainly paints the blackest picture here Tristan. Plenty of metaphors to bite on. A fine write, as always from your inspired pen.



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