The wiff of a bold smell
Whirls me back to younger days
filled with
crisis, torment and homesickness
where smoke burned
more valiant and bold,
unapologetic to
a nation’s survivalist nature
that singes toxins in the air
Instead of hiding them
in landfill dumpsters
This part of my brain
opens up gateways
of a soothing knowing,
telling me
I’ve been carried
along this trajectory of time,
relatively unscathed,
among dialogues and circumstances
with people
with people
I no longer know,
remember or
prefer not to have known.
I can’t escape
Time’s eternal reminders
when they show up
uninvited
on a late summer’s day walk.