Drive to work

[greenstorm]

When it warms up everything smells like hot dogs
Smoky fires kept dampened as
Sun rewarms our cluster of homes.

Earlier in winter the air was crisp with
Sweet pine smoke, sticky balsam, and the lower scent
Of charred birch.

Each house with its particular scent
Particular smoke pattern
The intimacy of strangers living through the same
Circumstances.

If you have pine I know where you spent your
Fall. If birch, I know where you spent your
Money, or social capital, or long rambling time
Driving down dusty roads to find it.

When you wake up you light up a smoke
Signal from your chimney, defiant against the cold,
One spark among many with the message: we
Survived the darkness. We
Are still here
Together.

Edited to add: I love these line breaks, they make me feel like I'm listening to an alien