fleeting flickering
puffs of flame dance
fireflies in sea of
impenetrable malaise
the dour smog seeks
to suffocate the still
sleeping city where
the poisoned souls of
driftless dreamers
plummet into an abyss
of inconsequential woe
a rhythmic clip clop
of shorn hooves over
dew slick cobblestone
vacancies swirl as the
fog coalesces to the
vaguely human absences
as shadows flit in an
illusionary delusion
voices whisper low and
incomprehensible in the
saturation of vapors
echoing softly off of
the weathered slats of
slaughterhouses and the
uneven alleyways filled
with whores and drunkards
lost in the heavy clouds
of pollution snaking
through the wheezing heart
of a city shrouded in the
filth of coaldust dismays

i float along a fecundity
of deteriorating desires
little more than a faulty
vessel of scabrous sins
bloated beneath the pale
glow of a dismissive moon
another casualty of the
rancid regurgitants from
the factories overflowing
into murky vestiges of
once grand rivers now no
more than chemical sludge
seeping from the tainted
aquifers in acidic reminders
why man fears the storms