Relearning Winter
Mark Svenvold
Hello Winter, hello flanneled
blanket of clouds, clouds
fueled by more clouds, hello again.
Hello afternoons,
off to the west, that silver
of sunset, rust-colored
and gone too soon.
And night (I admit to a short memory)
you climb back in with chilly fingers
and clocks, and there is no refusal:
ice cracks the water main, the garden hose
stiffens, the bladed leaves of the rhododendron
shine in the fog of a huge moon.
And rain, street lacquer,
oily puddles and spinning rubber,
mist of angels on the head of a pin,
hello,
and snow, upside-down cake of clouds,
white, freon scent, you build
even as you empty the world of texture-
hello to this new relief,
this new solitude now upon us,
upon which we feed.
"Sunset, rusted color":http://www.skye-bedandbreakfast.co.uk/assets/images/winter_sunset.jpg
"The bladed leaves of the rhododendron shine in the fog of the huge moon": http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2070/2136149664_e1e4db213e.jpg
"Freon scent": http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blfreon.htm
"Relearning Winter": http://www.madison.k12.wi.us/toki/teched/awwinwea.htm
"Spinning rubber":http://www.4x4offroads.com/image-files/kverkfjoll-offroad-786.jpg