by Sam Kerbel
My neighbor won’t stop playing Smokin’
The lady of the Echo Lake Inn
Tries her hand at the jaw harp
Finding in a not inconspicuous way
The old cigarettes are better
The old absinthe, better
God bless Norway
In her sovereign palace alone
Does saintly wormwood have its place
But I cannot drink anymore
Glass lies on harp and lets it lay
The last I spoke with my neighbor
I’d already been laid to rest
The first cigarette after is best
Sam Kerbel is a poet living in New York. He was shortlisted for the 2024 Oxford Poetry Prize and nominated for the 2026 Pushcart Prize and 2026 Best of the Net Anthology. His first chapbook, Can't Beat the Price (2025), is available from Bottlecap Press. Poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Anthropocene, Burial Magazine, Expat Press, Lana Turner, and South Florida Poetry Journal, among other publications.