NaPoWriMo Day 3: Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette

The prompt for NAPO Day 3 is to write a poem inspired by the song that was #1 on the Hit Parade on day you were born. What a fun idea. I googled Billboard and discovered the Number 1 song the week I was born was a catchy little tune called "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette," sung by Tex Williams. WHAT???? That's actually a song????

I found myself a little jealous of a friend whose Number 1 birth week song was "Mona Lisa" by Nat King Cole. Now there's a song you can sink your teeth into! If I had waited 10 years to be born, my birth week song would have been "Tammy," by Debbie Reynolds. But "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette." Really?

Actually, the song reminded me of my very first, and last, smoking experience. Here's the story, told in a first draft. Note: Back in those days, smoking was permitted just about everywhere.



Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette
It was the 1960's
and she was a college freshman.
It was the age of youth
and young people wanted change.
College campuses were
hotbeds for debate and protest.
It was a time for burning bras
and peace marches.
JFK was young and charismatic.
Unisex was in, boys and girls
wore the same bell-bottomed jeans.

Heading to the campus library, she
planned to smoke her first public cigarette.
She had "borrowed" a pack of her dad's Pall Mall's,
slipping them in her fringed suede bag.

After carefully arranging her study area,
she confidently inserted the cigarette
between pale pink lips, struck a match,
expertly lit the tip, then shook the match out.
What she didn't realize, and wasn't prepared for,
the candy wrapper in the ash tray.
The match wasn't out; the candy wrapper
ignited in bright yellow blue flames.
Her moment of glory turned to ashes,
she frantically smothered the small fire
with her notebook, slunk out of the building
and never smoked another cigarette.