Bleak

 It was here I learned

The meaning of bleak

I felt it in my bones

Here week after week

The word whispered 

Behind my mind's eye

Suggesting a feeling

Of others before I.

-Kelly Voelker

Bleak* - (of an area of land) lacking vegetation and exposed to the elements.

(of the weather) cold and miserable.

(of a building or room) charmless and inhospitable; dreary

*Definitions from Oxford Languages

Dusk

The breeze at dusk was kind and good

So some clouds went as far West as they could

To watch the sunset glow and dim

As shadows drew the landscape grim.

-Kelly Voelker

Our Own Canopy

Within our own canopy

Of perceived reality

Relying on none

Alone in the sun

Besting our own

Personal records

Refraining from drama

Obeying our accords*

Between our own

Conferring aspects

Keeping it pure

Keeping it abject.  

-Kelly Voelker

*accords - official agreements or treaty

*abject - (of a person or their behavior) completely without pride or dignity; self-abasing.