My friends have all graduated head of their class

What was powder on a mirror or empty CD case turns into glass,

burning sinuses or brimming over in sweet smelling clouds

What was calming in capsule form is now is distinguished as China’s only Caucasian

 and if you’re not fond of China,  you can call the Mexicans to cover up the potholes

on the streets of your arms

If you’re scared of needles or can’t tie a bow

You can smoke brown stripes off Reynolds finest invention

RJ discloses it on his cigarettes

It’s the tar

 In our youth,

We were misplaced, misunderstood, and full of raw talent

Smoking cigarettes by the fences of our high schools,

 cutting classes,  breaking all the rules

Thinking of time in hourglasses         

in which the grains of sands

poured through like molasses

As young adults we sought our passions

in fruitless love affairs

leaving us desperate

often clinging to despair

We found comfort

in social settings that required

smaller gatherings within

a room sectioned off for a few to come in and out of  a little lighter than before

We were kings among peasants

and queens among a deck of cards

Jacks or better

were always followed by a coke

and a smile

In night clubs we were gods

Egos filled like the balloons that we sucked down with mind-warping speed

 We never stood in line at the door,

We never paid for a drink

If the bookies got paid, it was because we made the score

We ruled when downtown was an escape route

for underage teenagers to destroy stem cell opportunities

offering race cars in the form of Mitsubishi-e

and two dollar trips for a eight hour tour

We hosted the after parties that raged into the sunlight

We drank the last beer  and watched the last man stand,

Yelling “Timber!” when he fell

We egged on the egos that led to the fights

We told pretty  girls to cheat on their loved ones

to get the loudest laugh

Passing the conch for attention

they were my scouts, and I was their den mother

you couldn’t have asked for more

 (but you always did)

distinguishing our degrees amongst each other

Our education was paid on a loan that was in default

We suffered collectors and harassing phone calls

and we found addictions that destroyed trust

inflictions that we’d yet to discover

We destroyed the commonality we shared

there was no room

we went in together

we’d all come out alone

Perhaps the time had come

for us to move out of the dorm

to get back into society but we still shared one thing in common,

none of us, not one of us, could face the thought of

                                         sobriety.