Clouded

I don’t remember when I fell asleep
but this must be a dream where nothing’s calling.
I’m walking down along
a river bank I do not know
where I can see the skeleton
of a thirty pack caught up in a tree.
I do not recognize the beer
because the cardboard is decaying
in the rain.

There’s a fish flopping in pain in the mud
missing half of itself likely
bitten apart by a wolf
to be washed here to me.
I watch until the swimming stops,
and kick it back into the water
where it sinks like a statue.

Purple skies and blue clouds
hold the cold against the earth
like the entire Northern hemisphere
has a headache all at once that wants to stay.
I hear the ice melt through the downspout
as it falls along the metal and connects
back to the ground where it will find
a way to linger in our footsteps.

They make them wait there on the main floor
while the entire line is stopped during
a blackout. The car alarms go off
before they’re supposed to, causing a panic,
and everyone is fighting for the door
to make it out of there, where all the air
is clouded by design.