a girl stands on the roof of a skyscraper
searching for the stars she had dreamed of
drowned out by the light of the metropolis below

the urban miasma burns her throat
an amalgamation of exhaust and incense
cigarette smoke and perfume but that’s
all she’s ever known, breathed

international outrage
shanghai’s air pollution at an all time high
a blemish on china’s ungainly features but she’s
too young to understand

why

she fills in the sky with brown crayons
plays in a courtyard of brown grass painted green
sings before a red flag fading brown at the edges
[brown] is the residue left in her clothing
the persistent cloud that blankets her existence

but she watches spectacular sunsets
red orange purple
like firecrackers in the night
a visual display of the irony that
the same smog that dyes her life brown
creates such striking beauty