-taste’s good like a cigarette should-

the cellophane-

wrapped packs auditioning for acceptance
stand as in a chorus line
upon the tabletop side-by-side
reading stage left to stage right

from the line of sight of the audience.

filter to non-filter types of the same brand
may be accepted to be included in the line-up,
although "low-tar low-nicotine" brands are non-participants
dismissed as experimentations in novelty, but —

each pack exhibited is beautiful, seductive,
swaddled in transparent glazing
containing twenty cylinders of full, rich tobacco flavor;

each smoke round, firm and fully packed;

each inhaling smooth and mild, one less irritating than the other,
all come to the line recommended by physicians.

and at the last pack standing stage right

from an audience perspective,

we find the testimonial dinner programed in his honor

with the wife and the kids in attendance front row center.