On Days Like This

by Rohan Buettel (Canberra, Australia, New Year’s Day 2020)

on days like this
when the hills evanesce
fires blazing east and west
each changing wind injecting
more junk into the city’s tissues
small particulates now twenty times
the hazardous extreme, implanting
too dangerous to walk outdoors
draw dirty air into clotted lungs
it seeps inside the house, where
you quietly sit in your P2 mask
with each passive breath
diminishing

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Rohan Buettel was born and educated in Brisbane, Australia and now lives in Canberra, the nation’s capital. He enjoys riding a mountain bike, paddling a kayak and singing in a choir. His haiku have been published in various Australian and international journals. His longer form poetry appears in Meniscus, Cicerone Journal and Lite Lit One.