quality
Nokyoung Xayasane

I walked to work
and we all went out for lunch

later that week,
a Wednesday,
the sky turned orange
and the air quality warning
flickered on

we sent each other photos
of the transformed sky
a colour correction gone awry

we sent each other videos of our cats
begging to go outside
but no, they were denied

later when the smoke cleared
and the air was as it was before,
we all met up for lunch again

Tom and Claire wore the same shirt
and we all laughed

we had time to finish all our tasks
and no one stayed too late

we said goodbye
and then we walked home
breathing the fresh summer air