No clouds today
but
the sky is white:
like a negative image
of
the night
the air is coated
the distant trees are
gray, smothering
the day in bleakness
in poison in
sadness
as fires rage
further west
as ozone reeks
from cars’ emissions
the warning from
the warming is:
stay inside
don’t breathe this
something like
Death’s kiss
as I long for blue
and cottony clouds
gentle clean winds
but instead the aspens
quake, it seems,
in fear, begging us
to stop this
madness
finally
so the birds won’t
fall from the sky
smothered in
particulates
unable to fly.
