Late nights coding the PDP-10

Do you smoke? asks the questionnaire.

No, not since I was 40, on a date

after a martini & only one.

If so, how much & for how long?

Before that it was late teens, mid-

twenties. I smoked the way my mother smoked —

with others, indifferently, blew rings,

the cost something else I couldn’t afford.

Late nights coding the PDP-10

Michael shared his clove cigarettes —

now those were foul, & also kinda sweet,

stress release from finicky bit diddling.

Ralph smoked nonstop between giggling —

doped to the gills, the way he’d slump back

helpless in his chair, fumble for a fresh pack.