the kiln ashtray

i remember making

my mother

an ashtray

for Mother's Day, she was

a pall mall

smoker,

two packs a day.

it was in the 7th grade

where we

had access to a ten thousand

degree

metal box called a kiln.

i constructed what looked

like a cave

fireplace

with a chimney at the top

for the smoke

to come out.

the front had an opening

where

the ashes would go,

or where the cigarette

could rest as she fed 

another baby with a bottle

of formula.

embarrassed to no end,

she quit smoking that day.

but thanked

me for the gift anyway.

my father

still uses it.