"Loss of Breath, Pt. 2" - More Old Poetry

I wrote a lot of poetry back during my undergrad days, but once I found that I enjoyed doing fiction more, I never picked it back up (despite filling a huge notebook with well-transcribed versions along with accompanying images). Since Steemit seems to have a thriving (and growing) poetry community, I thought I'd add a little fuel to that particular fire. I hope you enjoy :)

The highway ended
just outside of town.
The orange barrels of progress
were my only company
as I sprinted away
from industry,
smoggy mornings their only
notch on the bedpost of life.
I would inhale deeply for an hour
where the woody area began,
knowing I’d have to run
right back into the grayness
of skyscrapers and traffic,
concrete and fumes,
mirrored windows on buildings
where it’s dark until noon.
When I bend down
to tie my shoelaces,
I can smell the rain ten miles away,
hoping it comes to dissipate the haze
before I return,
lungs full of clean.

"Arizona"
"Lasso the Moon, George Bailey"
"Sphinx Song"
"Purgatory's Visiting Hours"
"When Atlas Shrugged"
"Christmas in Viet Nam"
"Apocalypsis"
"New Novel, Issue 2, Vol. I"
"Star God (My Final Thread)"
"The Universe is Right on Schedule"
"Absence of God & Time"
"Hale-Bopp"
"I Want Out"
"Good Morning, Creation!"
"Reflected through the Looking Glass"
"Symbiosis"
"Dream of a Dream"
"Azure Interlude"
"Hubris, My Love"
"Sin"
"So Many People, So Little Time"
"Deafening, Shameless Horror of War"
"Weary Traveler"
"Dead Poet Society"
"Untitled, 12.13.05"
"Untitled, 01.17.06"
"Untitled, 01.25.06"
"Untitled, 04.17.06"
"Tongue Painting"
"The Orator of S(kin)"
"Insert A into B"
"Mornings"
"Wake-Up Call"
"As If Hanging in Dreams on the Back of a Tiger"
"Mano Viejo (An Old Hand)"
"...And on the 8th Day"
"Choir of Anvils"
"Paris"
"Epilogue"
"Accident in C Minor"
"Scaring the Stars into Submission"
"Raising Hell in the Garden of Eden"
"The Push"
"Thong Decision"
"Kline in Love"
"Un-"
"Hollow Points, Anonymous Tips"
"Poke, Process, Repeat"
"Healthy Living"
"Natural Selection"
"Icarus"
"The Religion of Ink"
"The Chaos of Thought and Passion"
"Attempting Patience"
"Tongue-Twisted and Blistered"
"Ice Drift"
"Once Every Forever"
"Nude Unbending a Stare-Case"
"No One Smokes Here Anymore"
"First Memories"
"A Lifetime in Tijuana"
"When the World Ends"
"Deaf Market, Blind Speaker"
"The Blackout Tenor"
"New Wings"
"Loss of Breath, Pt. 1"