how to smoke weed:

1.

first, you must grab your dollar store lighter
& flick fire with your thumb.

this is not easy
because your wrists are so weak
& your hands are so shaky.

but you do it anyway
because the painkillers didn’t work
just like how they didn’t

when you tried to meet
devil’s sprinkles

dull pink candies
that you couldn’t consume.

2.

light the pre-wrapped joint
bought in the discount section
of your local dispensary

it’s not the highest quality
of green growth
but it gets the job done.

3.

the flames slowly consume
the other end of the escape.

inhale deeply
keep the smoke in your mouth
& slowly inhale again.

then exhale
through your nose

become your inner little kid
because you are a dragon

again

4.

repeat.

keep water if you cough
& take this slowly.

every breath is valuable
& must be done with focus.

Mercury Sunderland (he/him) is an autistic gay trans man. He's been published by University of Amsterdam's Writer's Block, University of British Columbia's Decomp, UC Davis' Open Ceilings, UC Riverside's Santa Ana River Review, and UC Santa Barbara's Spectrum. His visual art can be followed as @RomanGodMercury on Instagram and TikTok.