Don'T Look Up Dodwelb

The sky pays smoke in coins
Over busted morning glass
Kids stand in line for water
By the old school bus stop

My phone keeps throwing warnings
Red maps, blocked roads, ash
Your name still sits in contacts
Like a room that lost its roof

We learned the hard way to breathe this air
We learned the hard way to nod and stare

Don’t look up, just cross the block
Keep your shoes out of the soot
There’s a busted fence by the laundromat
And a week of canned food in the boot

Don’t look up, just cross the block
Past the cones and the parked-out cars
We learned to read smoke like a paper map
And still get home by the dark

The market sells soup and batteries
Under flickering screens
Old men trade their medals
For a seat on clean machines

The river tastes like rust now
The dogs won’t touch the shore
And every kid on the corner
Knows the sound of drones before

We learned the hard way to count the cost
We learned the hard way what gets cut and what gets lost

Don’t look up, just cross the block
Keep your shoes out of the soot
There’s a busted fence by the laundromat
And a week of canned food in the boot

Don’t look up, just cross the block
Past the cones and the parked-out cars
We learned to read smoke like a paper map
And still get home by the dark

Still, you strike that match
In the cracked-up room
Still, you hum my old songs
Through the static bloom

If the walls keep folding
If the names all fade
I’ll stay right here beside you
In the dust we made

Don’t look up, just cross the block
Keep your shoes out of the soot
There’s a busted fence by the laundromat
And a week of canned food in the boot

Don’t look up, just cross the block
Past the cones and the parked-out cars
We learned to read smoke like a paper map
And still get home by the dark