Clouds

Chuck Taylor

July 30, 2023

So I say if they give you lemons that taste like nails

You might go ahead and make somber battery acid

So I say if they pave over those trees you so dearly

loved, that dense forest of hardwoods that ran

along the floodplain of Wolf Pen Creek, to build

a line of commonplace chain corporate eateries

that drove out of business the local establishments,

then I say this time take time to consider not

taking acid revenge, don’t give yourself an ulcer

or disfigure anyone’s face. Go out and consider

the quiet clouds, they haven’t found a way to market

the clouds yet, no one as yet claims mineral rights

or owns the deeds to clouds. So I say stare at

the common clouds, watch them drift across the

sagacious empty blue of sky, using a tree perhaps

as your reference point, and enjoy the way

the clouds shape-shift, how they build cathedrals

way up in the air and then break them silently

down right in the soft miles before your eyes,

watch till time grows timeless and the sun

begins to set and you see how the rosy fingers of

the sun illuminate the clouds at first, but

then the color shifts, taking on bands of purple

or yellow tone, and then the sun sets further

and its light just clips the lower bumps of clouds,

making them a pinkish orange, while the

rest of the clouds grow dark. Your soul is like

those clouds. Luminous and light your soul

shape-shifts through the sky of your body, building

splendid architectures, taking on such holy

colors. Timeless are the clouds of your unknowing

where the worries of naming lemon words

break like a mirror dropped on a floor and your

humble rosy heart drifts in a living peace on its

royal road to falling snow or blessing rain. That’s

you, you know, sliding so easy from life to life.

Chuck Taylor's latest novel is "Hamlet Versus Shakespeare." He taught Shakespeare at Angelo State University. The novel turns the tragedy of Hamlet into an adventure and comedy. Taylor is retired from wandering and teaching and spends his time with books, friends, family, manuscripts, a dog, and household repairs.