ABC Wednesday, brought to you by the letter, “Z”! (Do we start on the Cyrillic alphabet now?) Also at the poetic collective, Poets United.
This poem is based on the phenomenon that effectively destroyed my piano-bar career… Amy
Zithromax (Think Before Lighting Up Indoors)
A smoky club, the trapped wait staff
take your orders and get the shaft.
While you puff a cig or two,
others do just as you do.
You can leave and breathe fresh air;
singers, barkeeps, stuck in there
Low-wage job with no insurance;
Z-pac samples help endurance.
When you blithely light that match
think of what the workers catch.
© 2010 Amy Barlow Liberatore/Sharp Little Pencil
Sharp Little Pencil 
vivienne Blake
that’s so sad. But I still love your voice!
Sharp Little Pencil
Well, sometimes my heart gives voice to sad things. It’s all good, though, Viv, I promise! Thanks, Amy
Roger Green
no Cyrillic alphabet. back to the boring standard alphabet again
Of course, I’m such a crypto-fascist, I don’t want ’em smoking outdoors either, with their cigarette butts. On the 1st Earth Day, I picked up well over 1000 around Binghamton Central HS! Also, I have a very good nose, so I smell what our next door neighbors put out. But I get your point.
I went to a wedding reception several years ago at a VFW hall, and I literally couldn’t stay in the room. You could SEE the haze of smoke.
Sharp Little Pencil
My mom smoked right up until her final hospitalization. My heart goes out to all nicotine addicts, because it was the cig corporations who controlled the dosage of nicotine, added the tars and all the toxins (including crap like acetone and dioxin-producing bleach for the white paper), sent free cigs to GIs during WWII, got stars to do commercials and glamorize the whole thing. When you’re up against that kind of industry, it’s amazing we have ANY “smoke-free workplaces” or restaurants, etc., at all.
For all who smoke, please know I’m not against you personally and I hope you are able to quit if you want, because my mom was going through the shutting down of her kidneys, liver cancer, and emphysema – and all she wanted in the hospital? Not a pastor. A smoke. It’s NEVER too late to quit, so use my mom as inspiration and she will smile down on you from heaven! (And she had one helluva smile.) Thanks, Roger, for picking up the butts, which are the #1 pollutant on America’s beaches. Amy
Daydreamertoo
As a smoker of over 30 years I always considered it mosy inconsiderate when thet wanted to ban smoking here, there and everywhere, until I aged and realised, smoking kills and, it doesn’t just kill the smoker, it kills others through their inhaling second hand smoke, some were dying of lung cancer who had never smoked a day in their lives, they just spent a lot of time breathign everyone else’s in. Now, I quit again and this is my fourth year (for a 2nd time) I know I’ll never smoke again and am all for banning it everywhere in public. In your own home is fine, but, even then, I feel so sorry for the kids breathing it all in. No need to wonder why they take up smoking so early, their craving for nicotine is already in their blood stream.
A good post, thought provoking. Thanks.
Sharp Little Pencil
Daydreamer, I hope you caught my post to Roger. I won’t reiterate it here, but in case you don’t get back to this page, I’ll send it via email. Basically, my sympathy is with smokers who cannot quit. Sure, my chances for cancer are increased because of secondhand smoke, but I DO NOT blame smokers. I blame the cigarette companies who made billions off of exploiting an addictive product, plain and simple. I certainly hope and pray you can resist the urge to go back to smoking, because I watched my mother die choking up her own lungs. So, so sad, and she was just miserable, and still craving cigs… Stay strong, and thanks for the comment. Most folks wouldn’t be this honest about the smokers’ side, and it gave me a chance to clarify that I was not knocking the people. Brown and Williamson and Phillip Morris can all bite me until it hurts THEM! Amy
booguloo
I used to hate that even when I smoked. Now what bothers me the most are people who smoke on elevators. Talk about being held hostage. Thanks for sharing!
Sharp Little Pencil
Oh, poor Michael, you’re not in a smoke-free state. I moved from NYS, where I was active in the Smokefree New York campaign, and when we moved to Madison, I already knew that was a smokefree state as well – WI just celebrated one year. My God, even Ireland has banned it in the pubs! Now that’s saying something!
Actually, I’m now so chemically sensitive that even perfume on an elevator can send me reeling. And one friend uses so much aftershave that, if he hugs me, I have to change my clothes, saying to Lex, “I’ve been slimed!” (Ghostbusters, LOL) Amy
dishita
So thoughtful.
At first I thought, it would be about the drug named Zithromax. but still find it relevant to your poem on smoke.
Sharp Little Pencil
I should have added an addendum, Dishita. Zithromax is one of those synthetic, “last resort” antibiotics they give you when you’ve been through so many courses of other “cillins” that they have to throw a super-drug at you. Z-pacs, for me, are the result of multiple, year after year chest, throat, ear, and bronchial infections and pneumonia as a result of secondhand smoke in clubs. Most folks who work in smoky environments know that once you’ve reached the stage when Zithromax is the automatic drug of choice from your doctor, you’re in serious trouble. Hope this helps! Amy
Debbie
I’m so sorry Amy, for what this has done to you. . .and how many others? Thank you for your informative poem. . . with the letter z, no less.
Sharp Little Pencil
Hope you got the point that ZIthromax is one of those “last chance” super-antibiotics that people take after they’ve had their umpteenth throat, ear, lung, or bronchial infection or pneumonia. Thanks so much for caring, Debbie. A
Denise
This reminded me of “The Little Match girl” do you know the story?
Thanks so much.
Denise ABC Team
Sharp Little Pencil
VAguely. I shall now go to the library and find the book! Thanks, Denise, and peace to you and all at Poets United, Amy
MiskMask
That is absolutely superb, Amy. Great message, and a well constructed poem. Yeah!
Sharp Little Pencil
Thanks, Marilyn. Mixed reactions from folks who didn’t know that Zithromax is the last-ditch antibiotic for chronic respiratory infections, but then again, another chance to explain stuff. And to learn that my exact meanings are not always conveyed.
I confess, I’ll never be one of those obscure-meanings types of poets, although I love reading them. I’m quite literal and intentional, and unless I include the “whole schmear,” it doesn’t always come across! Glad you got it! Peace, Amy
Ella
Sad you had to leave, but I get why…smoke ruins the experience for me in a lot of social situations. I go home and my contact lens are yellow, it zaps my thyroid, makes my sinuses cry~ You needed an outdoor gig perhaps~ Now you can write beautiful poems and your body and we are thankful~xXx
Sharp Little Pencil
Ella, thanks so much for this. You know, the timing was right for me to leave – Riley was entering school and I didn’t want her to have to be embarrassed because her mom did a rather risque piano bar gig in clubs for a living!!
I’m so sensitive to all chemicals now that I cannot even wear essential oils, let alone perfume. And put me near someone with heavy cologne and I have to cover my face. It’s pretty embarrassing, because it looks like I’m making a big deal out of nothing.
Renee Espriu
I worked as a Hostess once years ago and I understand where you are coming from. As always happy to visit your site. Have an Awesome weekend, Amy!
Sharp Little Pencil
Renee, a pleasure always. Yes, so many of us have worked those survival jobs, which ironically end up challenging… our survival! Have a great week. I’m housebound by humidity and ozone warnings because of my bronchial/lung condition… how ironic! Amy
Beriowne
You are skilled and accomplished in tetrameter and rhyme — and how rare that is!
Sharp Little Pencil
OK, OK, I admit to the rhyme part, but pray tell, what is tetrameter? I am SO unbelievably uneducated about form, which is why I rarely do anything other than free verse. Thanks so much, Berowne. Even though I’ll have to google “tetrameter,” it’s still a wonderful compliment. Peace, Amy
liv2write2day
This is a big issue here in Nevada. Most of us who live here rarely, if ever, venture into the casinos except for the poor people who work there. We have a high incidence of lung cancer, as you can imagine.
Sharp Little Pencil
Oh, yes, I worked the casino piano bar in Puerto Rico and know the incidence of cancer and COPD, etc. We lived in New York State, where I campaigned for (and was able to celebrate) Smoke Free Workplaces. Then we moved to Madison, but not before we found out Wisconsin is also smokefree indoor air. Take care, Amy
Daydreamertoo
Thanks for the visit and lovely comment 🙂
Sharp Little Pencil
Anytime, Daydreamer. I also send your info to the folks I told you about. Take care, Amy
Paula Scott Molokai Girl Studio
Sharp wit to go with that pencil! I think you are the only one that used zithromax-brilliant choice. As for me, I avoid at all costs taking any of that stuff.
And, it is encouraging to know that even Europe is starting to offer smoke free environs.
Sharp Little Pencil
I heard even my Olde Sod Eire went smokefree in the pubs! Maybe now I’ll visit… LOL. I thought I was a little cracked for using the harshest drug available for infections, but it tied into my loss of career in piano bars over secondhand smoke, as well as the fact that I didn’t become an activist on the issue until long after I left clubs. It isn’t really activism if it benefits yourself primarily! Thanks, Paula!
Madeleine Begun Kane
Well done! So true and so sad!
Sharp Little Pencil
It is sad. So many folks got hooked before anyone knew they were dangerous. And the damned cigarette companies covered up the dangers. My heart goes out to anyone addicted to nicotine, because I watched my mother drown in her own lungs from emphysema, craved yet another smoke. Thanks, Mad!
uponthewingsofnight
I can say that I have never smoked once in my life. I was so happy when the statewide smoking ban went into effect in Wisconsin. My brother wasn’t really happy about it at all. Unfortunately, I am referring to the one who died of throat cancer at 47. Nicotine addiction is something that I am thankful every day I don’t have.