ROHAN BUETTEL

Hazy Days

We have the latitude to live outdoors,
play sport, go swimming under bright clear skies.
Al fresco summer dining underscores
the life content, relaxed as we devise.
‘No worries’ has become our standard phrase
and tolerance for difference an ideal,
with fears of global warming just a phase
for jobs and raising kids are what is real.

Slanting sunlight suffuses ashen haze
and brings daylight its sickly yellow hue.
The baking heat feels like the end of days.
Will life outside go bid its last adieu?
The main intent: protect congested lungs—
we all are smokers now with quiet tongues.

Rohan Buettel lives in Canberra, Australia. He rides a mountain bike, sings in a choir and paddles a kayak. His haiku appear in various Australian and international journals (including Presence, Cattails and The Heron’s Nest). His longer poetry appears in numerous journals, including The Goodlife Review, Rappahannock Review, Penumbra Literary and Art Journal, Passengers Journal, Reed Magazine, Meniscus and Quadrant.