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.
JONAH magazine 