When Was the Last Time
He Asked That First Time Last Time
You Cleaned Your Own House

No Introduction
Always The Same Start, Last Time
Question Always Changed

That First Time I Said
I Couldn’t Recall and He Said
Then Your House Owns You

He Slowly Stubbed Out
His Cigarette, Raised A Brow,
And Left, No Goodbye

When Was the Last Time
You Heard the Quiet Slap Of
A Screen Door Closing

Or Is It Never
Only Something a Movie
Painted In Your Brain

He Rose and Was Gone
Like Smoke from The Last Puff Of
His One Cigarette

Once When I Was In
With Friends, Sat at A Table
Not Up at The Bar

Went To the Bathroom
Friend Handed Me A Crumpled
Napkin, Guy Left It

When Was the Last Time
You Avoided an Old Friend
Cigarette Burn Dot

So The Days Passed One
Last Time to the Next, Setup
The Same, Then Served New

Sometimes I’d Reply
Sometimes Not, Same for Him Did
Not Seem to Matter.

He Was Always There
When I Came In. Always There
With One Cigarette

When Was the Last Time
He Asked You Cared for Someone
You Didn’t Know Well

Last Time You Cared When
It Wouldn’t Do You Any
Good, Then or Ever

Spare Change Rattled On
The Bar Beside the One Stubbed
Cigarette Smoking.

When Was the Last Time
You Were Kind to A Cat Or
A Dog If You Wish

There’s More There Than We’re
Ready To See, To Welcome
Chips For a Black Crow

It All Adds Up Or
Doesn’t The Sum of Who We
Become, You And I

When Was the Last Time
He Raised His Voice? I Never
Heard It, Not A Bit

When Was the Last Time
He Talked to Someone Else Not
Me. Never Saw It

When Was the Last Time
I Was Sure He Was Real Not My
Brain Gone Off the Rails