No Smoking

The bars are different now

Without the smoke

The old ambiance of Casa Blanca

Hazy dens of sophistication, of iniquity

Gone.

The new scene, H.O.A. meetings,

Book Clubs.

Imagine Warren Cleaver

With tank top and tattoos

Tending bar

And the Beaver

Ordering a Bud light or a Mocktail

That’s it

That’s the picture.

Everybody used to look great

Through the haze of

A hundred cigarettes.

The drinks tasted better then,

Or maybe our taste buds,

Smoked like so many hams,

Couldn’t tell the difference.

Now, in the pristine atmosphere

Of our politically correct city,

There is a clarity of vision.

The hunk you ask to your bed

Is the same guy you wake up to.

Adventure is dead.

The predictability – is nauseating

Where is the romance

Where is Paul Henreid, lighting

Two cigarettes, handing one

To Bette Davis.

An age lost

Now Voyager - Now Boring.

We have become as children

Protected from ourselves

No longer capable of making decisions

The committees of the informed

Instruct us, guide us,

Surgically remove our free will.

And we thank them.

Bill – Oct 19, 2004 Updated May 1, 2024