Snapshot Poem: the week between solstice & new year's 02006

they say our days grow longer, our nights
more brief, but i don't notice. i act as
humans do, tying up loose ends, filing
important human papers, cleaning signs
of life from tables and floors, speaking
in cliches. sleet sweeps through our dim
streets, keeping us at home, or cautiously
walking, driving, steep-stepping along icy
untrustworthy paths to go spend more of
money that is increasingly scarce, if that
is possible to be. increasingly scarce.

the world grows harder, colder, more
slippery. even the dogs can't keep their
footing. my body clenches to an iron bar,
sure to fall and shatter, when one booted foot
steps outside. under that innocent snow --
sheer treachery, bruising duplicity. never
enough. never enough warning, support,
cushioning. never enough evidence to
coax belief, to elicit the faith my grand-
parents felt every day, with each sure
and certain step. tomorrow, they say, sun.

 

The ballot for this year's Montana Weblog Awards closes at midnight tonight. Mountain Time, of course. Git along thar!