dirty breeze

Dirty breeze

Smog floats
Above the city
Like a monster
Just licking its chops

And traffic it flows
Here and there
Up and down hills
Round and round in circles

And there’s beeping
And sirens always sirens
The sound of roaring motors
And crashing cars

And buildings on top of buildings
Battle for ground space
And try to reach high
Just to tap the sky

I can hear my neighbors yell
As I sit at my favorite spot
On the old rusty fire escape
Dogs bark and children laugh

And I can see my mother
Out the window
Hanging her laundry
Shirts sheets pants

And she hums to herself
A happy little song
Whilst back in the back of somewhere
I can hear a faint scream

And father is watching television
Some kind of game
With crowds cheering whistles blowing
And him swearing as if they could hear

The air feels a little cool
On this crisp early spring day
With the smell of the promise of summer
Tickling my little nose

And I look at the beat up cars
All parked below along the street
The stray cats jumping from trash can to trash can
A curly headed girl playing hopscotch

And over in a dark corner
Some teens huddle together
Smoke rising above them
I can smell the burning

Sometimes late at night
When everyone’s asleep
I’ll sneak back out here
Just to feel the city at night

And sometimes a few times at least
I’ll hear the shot of a gun
And more screaming tires skidding
A cold chill rips up my back

As I look up into the smog
I know without a doubt
That some day before I’m old
It will devour us all.