Pasadena

It's a small town outside of Houston, Texas
The highway there is lined with chemical companies
and the stench of smog and industrial waste fills the air
I distinctly remember the big white drums and pluming smoke stacks
the many dark nights being driven or even fueled
by the excess of their human condition
I was just a child trying to sleep
awoken by bangs and screams of punishment
if violence was beautiful then she had no equal
absorbing punishment like a rag on an oil spill
later used to wipe the dirt off my cheek
so I slept through bloodshed a time or two
in it even if you checked the other side of my mattress
but I still count myself lucky
to having seen the rape of my own flesh
because innocence is a suckers game
and my eyes are wide open watching