Texas Toast

We sat down in flames.

Sandpaper on the eyeballs.

Throat worn raw.

Watching an orange wave eat a hole in the map.

Some hapless household running home

like his hair was on fire and his ass was a catchin'.

'cause as far as he knew, it was.

Life and livelihood.

Dreams and dreamt.

Plopped own on a concrete slab and wrapped up in wood.

Eyes gouged out and replaced with glass.

Some neighbors and some firefighters happened by.

The one battled a firestorm with a garden house.

The other, master of flames, who both loved and hated fire

Killed the holocaust in it's crib.

Strangling it as it arrived fully formed from the womb.

Still born destruction.

Singeing all who come near with molten breath and flame colored eyes.

There was a fire near Dallas

and amongst the fire sales and closed businesses

and the lines of hollowed eyed men looking for a job

there was something burning for real.

I sat and watched paralyzed

helpless to stop it

unwilling to look away.