another restless night west of the city
with a fire still burning nearby
this time an apartment complex
the blaze started by a child
only eight years old.

the smoke drifts across the river
thick and yellow and enveloping
slowly covering the landscape
the sweet rancid stench
of everything burning at once.

the third fire in under a year
but that's just the way it goes
sometimes it takes a torch
to make you realize what you've got
to remember who you are.