The town I live in is not glamorous.
It is for the oil refinery workers, the ****-ups, and the hopeless.
You come here if you don't make it in the real world.
The cost of living is cheap and the value of life here is even cheaper.

The town smells of chemicals.
The refineries pump them out of the tall metal tubes that you see from the roof of your house.
Smoke fills your lungs and soon enough you get used to your cough.
You can't see the stars when you look up at night, the pollution took them away long ago.

The town is not safe.
Drugs flood the streets and the veins of the adolescents.
Families lock their doors at 5:30 P.M. and dare not come out until the sun rises.
The sound of screeching police sirens rock you to sleep.

But the town is beautiful.
On your nightly trips home you'll come over the bridge and you'll see the town in it's entirety.
You'll see how the smoke makes clouds above your head.
You'll see that the refineries light the city with their bulbs turned yellow from pollution.