The Backporch Review 2022

Pink Bic Lighter
By Madison Cuoco, 11
My mother used to smoke a pack of cigarettes a day.
Each one lit by a pink Bic lighter
And the smell of menthol would fill the room
Teachers, parents, priests would judge her for smoking near a child
Saying my clothes stunk of the stench of tobacco
Yet they never knew that the stench smelled like home to me.
My mother and I would go outside,
She would light up a smoke and I’d pluck some flowers
And we would talk for hours
This memory lit by a pink Bic lighter
My mom would take me on long drives,
Just to stare at the southern countryside
In her black Hyundai, with cigarette ashes in the cup holders,
And a pack of Marlboro Lights sitting on the dashboard
This memory lit by a pink Bic lighter
And now my mom’s light is gone.
Her black Hyundai was taken to the car dealer
And I was taken away from that southern countryside.
But one thing they never took away from me was that pink Bic lighter
As the lighter she once used to light cigarettes with now allows me to
light candles that give me light to see my brighter future.
65