Stacked Smoke

From this vantage point I might feel inclined to reminisce

Instead, I witness myself politely declining,

stacking mile upon mile of distance between us

Stacking smoke, curtains for film noir

Mirrors of sand, portraits charcoal and grime

Figure us out once for all. Stacking smoke

Figures of speech, free from harm,

like blackbird figurines fall silent on our high-rise

Stacking smoke

Unbeknownst to all, turn to your partner in grime

Unbefitting of smokestacks, we lit up the skyline

and true to our word built a forest of smoke. And stone,

hew me from you, a scarecrow statue

to clothe these wayward bones

Mirrors of sand, portraits charcoal and grime

Figure us out once for all. Stacking smoke

Figures of speech, free from harm,

like blackbird figurines fall silent on our high-rise

Stacking smoke

And fall as we did, aware that we might

have that night blotted out

Blotted out of a wayward, weary memory

of arson and a dream

and an eerie echo will ricochet

off a sole defiant chimney

Mirrors of sand, portraits charcoal and grime

Figure us out once for all. Stacking smoke

Figures of speech, free from harm,

like blackbird figurines fall silent on our high-rise

Stacking smoke

Mirrors of sand, portraits charcoal and grime

Figure us out once for all. Stacking smoke

Figures of speech, free from harm,

like blackbird figurines strewn like pebbles from our high-rise

Stacking smoke

Burning through poorly mended picture frames

and the last of my midnight oil

An arsonist’s tale henceforth lost to all

For the life of me, I dare not recall