When Rome Burns Poem by Cherie Mort

Speeding
100 miles per hour
Ozone crashing into my lungs like wind into sails,
Like bottles on rocks and pavement,
Like bodies at the bottom of a waterfall
I have never felt so high, so reckless
As to throw away my time on a stopwatch life
And all to click the button at the end of the night
As I drive into the edges of oblivion
I whoop as drivers blare their horns,
I curse as sirens screech behind me,
Hoping to entangle me in their raucous songs
Of handcuffs, fines, and the clink of a cup on metal bars
I'll take you down with me, I threaten them,
But the ozone distorts my voice into a banshee's call
Echoing the sound of the skidmarks my tires leave on the road
They'll never catch me alive
I'll blaze through the stars and drag daylight behind me
As they follow swiftly after, leaving night in their wake
I intend to burn this desert of ash and concrete buildings
I will not stop until every living skeleton walking these streets
Smells the peanut butter burnt tire rubber scent deep in their nostrils
As more of them wake up and pour a cup of oil slick sludge into their coffee mugs
And roll up another joint made from laundry lint and children's dreams
I'll get high on ozone, exhaustion, and exhilaration
As those blue lights fade to black when my face collides in a kiss with the windshield
Because my life is all just a scene in a violent play on words
And it's always such fun until someone gets hurt
Because nobody, nobody laughs when Rome burns