Laundry

I have been inside for too long.

I forgot what the sky looked like.

Can't remember the last time I looked up

Except for eye rolls at the latest thing to go wrong

Inside is electric and stale, suffocating

Lifeless as a cobweb with the spider gone

It's been that way for a while

And I have been inside for too long

I went out to hang laundry in the sun

I shook little spiders from the pegs

Brushed aside the sticky new webs

There because I have been inside for too long

Silky bare feet on calloused patio stones

Weeds sprouting, pushing up between toes

Something in me is sick and bone-tired

And I have been inside for too long

The cat was out, meowing at magpies.

I stopped to watch her and caught sight of those skies

I had forgotten for a while

When I saw them again they were endless

Hungry greys and an apricot blush

All the way to nowhere

and me, eyes wide, spellbound,

Aching for air because I've been inside for

too long

too long

too long.