Equating Reno with Hell

I live in the small city of Reno Nevada, and this is a poem about feeling like I'm stuck here. =p There are references in this poem that are very common to those who live in Reno.

Our atmosphere is caught on fire

Filled with dangerous plumes of

           Ash

Raining like snow from the skies

Too thick for these 18 year old lunges to breathe

                I’m not an avid smoker

It’s all from some far off fire I’ve never seen

                                Only in pictures

 

I moved to a new house

                A soon to be sort of gypsy palace

On the edge of this nightmare

It is without screens on the second story windows

I can sit on the roof

Trying to separate smoke from sky

And figure out why the sun is red

 

They say it’s because this little city

                Big town called Reno

Is sitting in the mouth of hell

So close that you can see Sparks

Looming out of the infernos soot

 

You can see embers crusting the boarders

                Of my gypsy castle

Waiting to catch this city engulfed in flames

In rays from the smokes blood red sun

Just over those purple mountain majesties

I can’t make out in the haze

 

I’m trying to escape from this purgatory

That slips leather ropes around my neck

And metal around my wrists

Dragging me to the streets of this nether world

All the fourth street hookers call

                                Home

 

They’ve tied me to this city

That the earth rocks under my feet

Trying to stop me from

                Joining ocean shores instead

But I wasn’t born in hell

 

And I won’t die there either

Author's Note

everything here is intentional.

Reviews

[Michael G. Smith]

This poem instilled feelings of depression. At least it made me feel.