Littered Sky

by Mathew Richard Carter

tarnished blue skies
rest behind the softest
gray as the clouds to
the east resemble
torn shreds of paper,
the tiger’s claw
trademarks the
moment. A clump of
passing fowl coasting
on a westward wind,
were merely floating
pebbles strewn against
the littered sky.

Tufts of thick, gray dust
persist from factory silos,
tugging itself beneath
the cirrus fog–
to blend and spread
like frosting, assuming it has
sweetened the day. Even the sun can
play along, boasting its
ultraviolet breath to pollute our
unguarded hair, our naked skin

and still we manage to
inherently engulf ourselves
in the limitless
wonder of an
infinite ceiling.