Retirement

Richard Dinges Jr.

Just when I left the stupor 

and stilted air of an office 

chair buried in a room

with no shadows, lit

by sterile fluorescence

and dim monitor flicker,

just at that moment

the world shrank, 

people retreated into 

small home-bound rooms,

hid behind masks, 

a world with no smiles, 

only shrill shrieks of loss 

and no protection from ghosts

that float in air to infect 

our breath, and I still stare out

through dirty window panes

at freedom yet to be had.