Broken Down Empire

Starting to wonder where I belong.
Not here, not now.

Staring out the window
I see more stars than ever before.
The sky is more vast
And darker here, more to it;
There is more to the universe, too, I suppose,
If I care to look deep enough into it.

But do I care to look deep enough?
Do I want to leave the comforts
Of a mind melding society,
Deep rooted trends and exotic,
Hypnotic,
Luxurey...cooshening?

The distant wind pushes
The sound of a passing freight train,
Horn blaring, smoke swirling,
I can hear it's brakes screaming down the tracks
As it tries to avoid smashing
Into a broken down school bus
Full of broken down dreams
Planted in broken down children
By lying parents who won't admit
That they are all hate children.

I wonder what New York is doing tonight?
What bird is landing on the head
Of a plastic owl perched
High atop another doomed skyscraper?
What dog is taking a leak on an empty
Fire hydrant...red tree?

Can New Jersey smell the flowers I do,
Or is it all shielded
By some rancid odor of dead fish
And cheap hair bleach
Congregating with the shit pools
Of a fat woman with the flu?

In a week will Pennsylvania seem so far away,
Or will I forget the crack house
And the suicidal whore?
Will the bars on their windows bend
And force down the gates around
My mother's childhood soda fountain,
The childhood who's windows I stared at
In awe and wonder,
Excited to see one discarded napkin
On the dusty counter
Of a shop long closed
By an owner long dead
With a family long since done their mourning?

This is where I belong.
Right here, next to that freight train,
With the other broken down dreams.