angst cycle (iii)
[Ʃ] (vi)

there was an incident
must be a decade ago
driving north
i felt a strong desire
to take the longer route

i didn’t
i took the shorter road
and about a hundred miles up
passed through a small
cloud of smoke

i knew
when i did
i’d breathed
what i’d wanted to avoid

carcinogens
cancer creators
my lungs would burn
i feared

they didn’t

now tell me
why is this not
corrupted memory