Alessandra Liverani Poems

Big Tobacco's Creed

They got lips? We want them
They got lungs? We'll destroy them
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The Dolgopolov mountains are fierce and forboding
Balashkabav River descends them, icily flowing
Chernogolovka Peak rises spectacularly into the mist
Forming part of the Chasm of Chemanzhelinsk
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Many smokers fail to quit before they've even started
Because their frame of mind is such that they are all disheartened
They're very good at thinking of every possible obstacle in the way
And envisage clearly in their mind how long and tedious will be the day
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I sincerely hope that this letter will not come to you as a surprise
Or embarrassment, since upon each other we have never laid eyes
I am deeply sorry if I have in any manner disturbed your privacy
Let me introduce myself, I am Dr Christopher F. S. McGee
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I see a traffic jam up ahead
I'll be late, may as well be dead
Better have a cigarette
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Hannibal's elephants had flapping ears and tusks with sharpened points
Which he set upon the enemy to disembowel and break their joints
A frightening, fearsome sight which had strong, brave men in a cower
But along came General Scipio who found a way to break their power
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Sydney Harbour Bridge indulges in global fame
But it's not the only bridge who can claim
To span the sparkling waters of this natural sensation
We number seven in all, and we'd also like some admiration
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Breakfast At Tiffany's - a movie revered as a true classic
Audrey Hepburn, the icon, with bearing aristocratic
George Peppard, the actor, so suave and debonair
So should I, would I, ever so much as dare
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Cigarette addiction kills people
But it makes me lots of money
It ruins their health
But it makes me lots of money
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My grandmother has been smoking since the age of thirteen
Barely a decade after from her mother's breast being weaned
She's still smoking keenly at the age of eighty-five
'How lucky she is' you say, 'That she is still alive'
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