The work of our hearts is dust
— Charles Reznikoff
And snow,
flaking beneath
our feet
and ice,
and sleet
and the particles
of storyboard
we mend together
with song -
This season's
longest days
are further
reasons
to write, with
dust as ink
and time,
as paper
folded
into airplanes
inspired by Meditations on the Fall and Winter Holidays by Charles Reznikoff
https://poets.org/poem/meditations-fall-and-winter-holidays
Winter #SolsticePoem Prompts (via Deanna): https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ZjzQCxAlSozwsiWI-KBWYmTv6AdFEME4V9AQwrATcnE/present?slide=id.p
Brace the cold – snapping
at us – we're bundling up
in layers of love
for Algot
We came to transmit the
shimmering
from which we came ...
— Etel Adnan
I wish I could put a finger
on the moment when you
were less shadow than person
and the shimmering was light
playing tricks on my eyes
Still, I cried, in the knowing
of the something that had come
and gone, as winter always
arrives in the days after
the cold fall of Autumn
This world survives – there's evidence
of that in the ocean's tides,
even as we remember the lost
who walked here before us -
At dawn, the constellations are calling
inspired by “Surge” by Etel Adnan https://poets.org/poem/surge
Winter #SolsticePoem Prompts (via Deanna): https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ZjzQCxAlSozwsiWI-KBWYmTv6AdFEME4V9AQwrATcnE/present?slide=id.p
Gathered,
we spoke
of everything
but
The Stroke
She woke, listening
to our chatter
quietly,
then memory broke
to the surface
with a trademark
salty joke
for #mastoprompt
Such a worry wart -
'sorry but not so sorry'
ends us where we start
for #575prompt
Woven strands of Pine
encircle every moment;
these hands, stitching time
for #575prompt
“Next June’s lover
speaks the harvest: your rich, vowel-tender song”
— Kemi Alabi
Yes, I am listening
to your whispering
of this winter
I am hearing
the quiet clearing
of your tongue
I am asleep,
huddled deep, inside
the Solstice
We both are graying,
every day, praying,
hours linger longer
Yes, I am listening
to your whispering
of this winter
Inspired by The Lonely Sleep Through Winter by Kemi Alabi
https://poets.org/poem/lonely-sleep-through-winter
Winter #SolsticePoem Prompts (via Deanna): https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ZjzQCxAlSozwsiWI-KBWYmTv6AdFEME4V9AQwrATcnE/present?slide=id.p
Remembering
childhood winters —
always the lost mittens
the boots packed in socks with snow
the ice wind closing hazy eyes
layers upon layers upon layers
trudging the way, windward
Then: the front door
slam behind,
a shoulder lowered
against the gale,
strength drawn
from the warmth
of the house
inspired by Winter Is Coming by Waverley Turner Carmichael
https://poets.org/poem/winter-coming
Winter #SolsticePoem Prompts (via Deanna): https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ZjzQCxAlSozwsiWI-KBWYmTv6AdFEME4V9AQwrATcnE/present?slide=id.p
Hues of
you -
I dip
the brush
to feel
the rush
of color
palettes
combining,
mixing us
on a canvas
of a first
crush
for #mastoprompt
“It dizzies me a little to look down”
— from Toward The Winter Solstice by Timothy Steele
Here, on the edge where
gutters rub against
roof, my toes are tipped
on neither shingle nor air,
as the first lights
of holiday flicker with energy,
butterflies in flight
We can hear the recipients
of this daring tightrope
crying out inside the frame
of a foggy second floor window,
open as our escape
We're reveling
in a shared gift
of star-sky quiet,
fingers to our lips,
chasing memories
in the night
original poem: https://poets.org/poem/toward-winter-solstice
Winter #SolsticePoem Prompts (via Deanna): https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ZjzQCxAlSozwsiWI-KBWYmTv6AdFEME4V9AQwrATcnE/present?slide=id.p