Small Noise

“Foggy Moon II” by Sherry Genovar-Simons

 

fog has a sound
if you listen
droplets burst
low to ground
on atomized air
the small noise
of conflict
encounters of cold
vying warmth
for supremacy
settling their hash
moistly wrestling
swirled in their
clinches the tails
of their veils
smudge the moon
till agreement
finds voice in
thin whispering
vapors of truce
just in time for the
yawning of dawn
before boulders
borrow the sun

 

 

From my books Small Noise and Legacies (vol. 2)

Deep Freeze

“Snow Storm” collage by Vera Simons

 

the air crinkles
like cellophane
clinging to skin
each inhale
an icy shock
shuddering lungs
each exhale a
gelid cold cloud
soft beards become
stiff wired brushes
and tears turn to
gemstones set
still on the cheek
arctic needles
prick pores
frigid stings
into layers of
muslin and down
till the core vents
the last of its
organic warmth
ahh
the bracing brisk joy
of a life sharp and
clean in the fierce
freezing throes of
a rigorous winter

(originally posted January 2014)

Post-Election

 

“The Argument” by Henry Lee Summer

 

this winter air burns

frigid flames scald the lungs

of the angriest minds

opposition arraigned

by the militant rasp of

each dogmatic breath

harshly hatefully haled

deep and dangerous

down inside lobes

starved for something

more rational something

more healthy more healing

than thermal malignance

created by rampant

intemperate conflict

of fire and ice

Unseasonable

 

“Thaw” by Cinnamon Cooney

 

 

bears put off their sleep
potholes waken abruptly
January thaw

 

(originally posted January 2014)

Nostalgia

“Sleighride in Winterland” by Terry Redlin

the air has warm hands

melting winter to water

defying New England’s

white cosmic conventions

a wave of those hands

upheaves natural order

the steady progressions

predicted in almanacs

making such beautiful lies

of the pictures on calendars

ruddy-cheeked passengers

mufflered and swaddled in

quaint horsedrawn sleighs

sentimental in passage from

romance of yesteryear into

this simply not cold enough

foggy forgettable season

Grassblade

Photo by Ellen M. Banner
From “The Seattle Times”

determined to reach for the sun

unaccustomed to standing alone

collects up the tears of his brethren

laid dormant by weight of hard frost

and then struggling presents them

imploring the morning remember

its duty to bring back the warmth

when the winter retreats to its lair

Why the Cold

Moroccan Brazier
Photo from hollywoodbollywood.co.in

inhospitable tropics
melt the good blood
into watery wine
wilting spirit that
sweltering victim of
obstinate suns
heat unhinges men
limbs fall from torsos
in puddles of
purposeless flesh
where ideas find
no provident purchase
the mind wants for
briskly chilled chambers
where building and
tending a careful laid
firewood brazier
will introduce warmth
with distinction
that radiates rather
than absorbing
definitions of self
a most personal shape
filling spaces that
all the world ever and
always will recognize
take to its memory
name it uniquely
appreciate all its
thoughts gelid with
rational lucid assertions
cool climate conducive
to reason instead
of deformative
uncontrolled
free-burn of
fire-pit passions