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Syntax Issue 10
Denver Syntax
{curtains}
  brett jenkins


My bedroom curtains
are draped around us
like a royal robe.
Behind them I have
so carefully lit a cigarette
and am blowing smoke
rings that seep
off the sill into
warm October air.
With your arm
on my waist
I have no recourse
but to flip the ashes
out onto the roof
like a black and white
portrait of rain,
because I can't
reach
the ashtray.