Winter Observation

Is it birds or 

bits of paper, 

parting the sky 

like Moses 

at the banks. The world 

is upside-down 

today, lead-colored. 

As the last 

leaves have finally 

fallen, pasting

trees to the horizon 

as coat-rack spectres. 

Thickening

the curtain between

life and 

the muzzle

of winter. It is sudden. 

The way I turn 

my head and find 

movement 

finished. The world 

still 

as a prairie 

when the heat rests

heavy on its back.

Author's Note

2014