The Dangers of Smoking in Bed

by Mariana Enriquez

am terrified by this dark thing That sleeps in me; All day I feel its soft, feathery turnings, its malignity. SYLVIA PLATH, “ELM”

she just wanted that vaguely distant, chemically induced state that disconnected her but still let her live a little. Less and less, but enough.

Sometimes she even brought a book to the bar, and that attracted some glances, but no one had ever bothered to ask what she was reading. With a book, she could tune out the conversations of the other office workers, which didn’t interest her

At that age there’s music playing in your head all the time, as if a radio were transmitting from the nape of your neck, inside your skull. Then one day that music starts to grow softer, or it just stops. When that happens, you’re no longer a teenager.