"HARD LESSON FROM DAWN DONUTS"
BY ANDRE F. PELTIER
He pocketed a pack
of Marlboro Reds
from the counter
at the local donut shop.
We biked to the woods,
sat under a tree,
lit one off another,
and finished them all
inside of twenty
minutes.
“You look green,”
she told me
as I moaned frozen
floating, spinning
like a land-lubber at sea
above my blankets.
“You stink of tobacco,”
she continued.
“I don’t know
what you’re talking about.
How could this be?
I would never touch
those things.
Excuse me.
I think I’m going to be
sick.”
Andre F. Peltier (he/him) is a Pushcart and Best of the Net nominated poet and a Lecturer III at Eastern Michigan University where he teaches literature and writing. He lives in Ypsilanti, MI, with his wife and children. His poetry has recently appeared in various publications like CP Quarterly, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Provenance Journal, Lavender and Lime Review, About Place, Novus Review, Fiery Scribe, and Fahmidan Journal, and most recently in Menacing Hedge, The Brazos Review, and Idle Ink. His debut poetry collection, Poplandia, is available from Alien Buddha. He has three collections forthcoming in 2023, Trouble on the Escarpment from Back Room Books, Petoskey Stones from Finishing Line Press, and Ambassador Bridge: Poems from Alien Buddha Press. In his free time, he obsesses over soccer and comic books.
Twitter: @aandrefpeltier Website: www.andrefpeltier.com