Two For The Price Of One Poem by Alessandra Liverani

When you become a smoker
You'll be given absolutely free
A fear, and then to complement it
Receive another, I can guarantee

The first is donated to the subconscious
It appears in the dead of night
You have no knowledge of its arrival
But it wakes you with a fright

This fear loves to tell you that
You'll feel very anxious if you do not
Inhale the fumes of a cigarette
The complementing fear says this is rot

It tells a contradictory tale
Of health warnings and of death
What happens when these two clash?
Are we left with one big mess?

The subconscious fear takes the upper hand
It is in the driver's seat
And it knows just what to do
So that it will never taste defeat

This fear has no weapons of its own
But steals those of its foe
Using camouflage, decoys and the like
To create a very sad tale of woe

(Sydney, Australia - 2003)