Inhale, Exhale, Inhale

The smells of
skunk spray and cigarette smoke
linger
in the thick curtain of rain

I cannot inhale for fear of distaste
     Avoid the bitterness
     Avoid my neighbours

I use my other senses to live
forgetting the necessity of breath
as the rain streams down harder
     my eyes capture the night
     my ears are soothed by the rain
     my mouth is cooled by the moisture
     my skin tingles from the chilled air

I sit at my window and stare
at the passing specters
and urge time to pass faster
     and slower still

     and slower still

     And then it all
     stops
     before my eyes

I inhale

and tumble back into the
mess of a life that I have

and that midnight rain can never fix