Fred Aiken Writing

there’s a skinny kid in me that 
stays up all night
listening to the velvet underground
while hammering back monster energy drink
and chain smoking clove cigarettes
while attempting to speak french
with the exchange student that makes drinking red wine
look like a performance art piece,
but someone came along and shaved that skinny kid’s head
and left him scarred with cigarette marks
all up and down his arms and legs