Delhi Weekend Curfew

-January, 2022

The dull, orange moon 
was hanging there,
a dusty, swollen ache.

The guard said, Close 
your phone– you said, 
friend, it’s just the moon.

He shrugged his shoulders
and looked down– 
what was left to say?

This waning moon,
this smokey sky– 
the orders we all take.