Upstate NY - July 2, 2022

if I still lived

under those gray skies

I know

what I’d be writing about

clouds

every shade looming

like wall-to-wall umbrellas

in a sunless sky

always waiting for me

to step outside

protect me from hope

a bright future

keeping my head down

this low ceiling of life

to never look beyond

my next shuffle

of course there’d be poems

of escape driving to work

and never stopping daydreaming

palm trees beaches sunny smiles

but without any moon

to light my way

how would these dreams

find the courage

to awaken and flee