my friend, the writer
D.S. Maolalai

​He told me
he'd decided
to be a writer
so he'd started smoking cigarettes again,
unfiltered American Spirits,
and he told me he was drinking a bottle of wine each night now
and jerking off early in the mornings.
it was over with Melissa,
he told me
and he'd started hitting bars again,
looking for cool looking women
to take home and help remember
that he loved her
and he told me
that she'd told him
she'd be waiting
when he got past this nonsense
and started to miss waking up in the morning
and eating in bed
her special recipe
for toast and eggs.
​
I saw some of his stories later on
in a magazine.
They were some of the best lies
I'd ever seen
written down.