Archives
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Coming Snow
Apples, in the yard,unbitten, frostbitten.Cigarette, on the porch,cradled, climbing, curling;a tiny house on fire.Clouds still flowering whiteat night,cold and buoyant.I recall the coming snow,the sharp tempest,try to forget Mexico;turquoise and Saltillo tile,bright pop of papayaon the tongue.~
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Winter Light
It stays awhile, an unwanted guest,stark and angular, bright but starved,light long extinguished like a star.Square boxes of it linger in the halls,checkering the pine floorswith coming snow.Rectangles paint the kitchen stone,whitening my hands as I halve potatoesand halve them again.In the bedroom,its grassy shadows, its thin gray rootsgrow between wooden slats.They play over his…
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Wisconsin
Starless, smooth and polished, the sky is a wide onyxset into the rough bronzeof bare trees.It inhales amber, exhales woodsmoke,its breath sweet and ashy and pungent.Thick trunks and thin branches hover over, warming their hands against the late autumn chill.At the tree line, far from me,you are a silhouette on the other side of burning.You…
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Pears
I am hungry for pears.Like him,they are sweet and gritty,bruised and earthy,unassuming,with an ample stem.In the morning light,he watches me take a firm, fleshy biteuntil all that remainsis the glisten of nectar on my lips.I nestle my foot into his lap,and he cradles it like an injured bird.This desire is nothing new.For centuries,strangers have soughteach…
Juniper Laine 