• jagged mountains in the
• distance
• knife points cutting
• the expansive sky
• clouds blot out the sun
• bleaken the light
• that strains pathetically
• through
• the
• cracks

/

• they used

• to stand taller
• brushing the stars
• forming an immovable
• wall
• around a town
• it only just
• barricades now

/

• people
• hardened and rough
• sly jokes
• aimed at each other
• careless thoughts
• floating by every corner

/

• a few streets
• greyed with time
• faded from the
• endless snows
• that blow
• through

/

• buildings
• short and angry
• weathered by the sleet
• never old enough

/

• rebuilt
• from the constant
• destruction
• of the gale

/

• a pond shallow
• the water hardly
• broken

/

• ice seeps
• across
• holds the clear
• blue waters
• hostage
• a brief melt
• allows children to brave
• the chill

/

• for the most part
• it’s an ice skating spot
• gouged in cuts and bruises
• from blades
• criss-crossing
• painting images
• memories of the
• cold

/

• towering pines
• sweep the streets
• arching
• drooping heavily
• with the
• snow
• smothering
• the needles and branches
• underneath

/

• they huddle in droves
• whispering
• about the mountains
• at its feet
• talking about
• how battered and worn
• he looked
• and how he hardly
• beats back
• their
• brothers and sisters
• anymore

/

• grain fields lie cold
• the earth torn up and hard
• like a field of bedrock
• unsuitable for life
• flocked by chickadees
• dotting the surface
• crying
• wondering when
• the sun
• will push the clouds
• away
• scorch the earth
• and feed them again

/

• shovels line the walls
• of a battered and
• beaten
• old wooden shed
• rusting
• of disuse
• the famers have given up
• wearily yearning
• for a hint of green
• lies hidden
• under the crust of ice

/

• further out
• deer and bears
• play a harrowing game
• of hide and seek
• the rabbits watching
• narrowed eyes
• and empty stomachs
• are their only
• company

/

• mountains
• do nothing
• to keep out the chill
• act as a cage
• to the inhabitants
• let the wind slide through
• pulling coats tighter
• making the rippling water
• harden
• under its laughter
• it enjoys dancing on the
• graves in the cemetery
• and snapping storm doors
• open then closed

/

• coffee
• dirty water
• just enough to keep you
• awake
• runs their systems
• cracks open their eyes
• to the dull linoleum
• smudged spoons
• ripped stools
• the tired smile of
• the waitress
• she taps a pen
• counting down the minutes
• on the clock

/

• small town
• no name
• nestled in the belly
• of a mountain
• important to the lives
• of the people it cradles
• yet they yearn to escape
• drag hand over foot
• past the knife points
• the sunken snow
• and through the whispering trees
• aiming for the little lights
• distanced further than
• their ambition