Local woman longs for shelter after proverbial wind totals her car.

Colorado smells like burnt sage
cleansing and chasing bad spirits away
Arizona smells like burnt sage
cleansing and chasing, cleansing
Arizona smells like burnt rubber
and hospital rooms and flesh to ash

Colorado smells like fresh sky
filling lungs and giving legs strength
Colorado smells like cold snow
brisk and refreshing, stealing strength
Nevada smells like dust

Nevada smells like hot dust, sick wind, dirt
Nevada smells like meth, decay, dirty money
Nevada smells like nuclear waste, rotting carp

Nevada smells like suffocated babies
Oregon smells like trees
Oregon smells like waterfalls and ice
slipping between books and lectures

Oregon smells like sex and whiskey
Oregon smells like old houses that creak
when toe tips scrape across late nights
Oregon smells like anger and apathy
and the bottom of a pool, drowning

Oregon smells like escape from dust
Oregon smells like, no don't go back
Washington smells like the ocean
salty and warm on the skin

Washington smells like aloe vera
after a blistering sun burn
Washington smells like tears
turned into torrents of giggles
Washington smells like very cheap beer

Washington smells like delinquent nights
sneaking from room to room, all smiles
Washington smells like poetry and wine
Washington smells like Excel documents

Washington smells like laughing children
Washington smells like a time machine
oiled and ready to grant the only wish
Washington smells like cigarettes and soap
clinging to tshirts and jackets and scarves

Washington smells like an abundance of apologies,
unnecessary and ultimately amusing
Washington smells like graciousness
Washington smells like home