It Caught

Night time wanderings
In the smoked glass evening air

 

Cloud vapors rise in tendrils
Off the window pane lake
Smooth clear
Refreshed from the torrent
The downpour

 

Tenderized soil hides the heavy step
While my mind mimics my movements
Carelessly roaming from one topic to the next
Burning ember red only to cool a moment after
Smoldering until the next burst of air

 

My cigarette hisses
As it is abandoned in a murky stream
Running along the street

 

The oil in the water
Swirls in a rainbow pattern
And I wonder if the street will catch one day

Spontaneously combust
As my smoke hits the water
Setting the asphalt ablaze in the early morning

I can almost imagine the paint peeling off the black top

Tar bubbling
The fumes rising into the night

 

And people may still try to drive on this
Oblivious over their cup of freshly bought coffee
Air conditioning running trying to make it to work
Just wanting to tell another mannequin at the water cooler
How bad the traffic was

 

I can already hear it
“Some a*s set the street on fire again.”

 

And the conversation continues to spiral
Downward, smoking like the street
Until both have to lose themselves in their paperwork

 

While this random train of thoughts drifts off
A smile creeps onto my face

 

And the moon smiles with me
Because in the fresh air
In the dark
I feel the most at home

I think I may smoke another cigarette
And wander some more
04/12/2012

Author's Note

I had a co-worker chastise me for tossing my cigarette butt into the street. I told him I would quit when the street catches on fire. Later on he started to toss his butts street and when I told him he was littering he gave my response. It kind of inspired this piece. Kind of...

Reviews

[J Todd Underhill]

I only tossed my butts in the street when deep in thought about poetry... so yeah that was alot, but I tried to keep the street from catching fire! You on the other hand are a habitual asphault arson and one I am proud to know!

[...]

Haha! What a brilliant piece of writing! It's incredibly vivid. I could imagine a street on fire. The conversation that inspired it is even more amazing. Reminds me of a friend of mine who tossed a butt into a garbage bin at the international airport in New Delhi and the damn thing caught fire. He ran from there before cops and others showed up to see why there was a fire.

[flyingdreams]

Butterfly effect of a cigeratte butt?
:)