I have a heart too warm
for a body of snow.
My torso went out first—
The buttons before my chest
dropped into the soil.
One by one, they stripped me tenderly.
—I feel exposed.
My limbs were the next to leave—
Technically I only had
arms that once traced words in frost.
The damp branches—they landed right beside me.
I couldn’t reach them, of course.
Finally, my face.
I recalled dreaming of pale winter sun
—my lighthouse amidst a blizzard.
My eyes flowed down—what once were my cheeks.
My smile thawed into a grieved last breath.
A pile of cold water by the pavement…
I think I left my heart of March there.
brushed marigold sun
m
e
l
t
s
on
azure glaciers
polar blooms
u n f u r l
thaw gives way to blooms of reds purples and yellows ~
AP: 3rd place 2025
A late March thundershower floats toward me
Like a plucked flower
Handed over on a walk to a lover
With a smile
Down this afternoon path
That breezes past
Spring-born ponds
Erupting
Of Peepers ululating and Chorus Frogs ratcheting
In a wave of Gnawa music.
The surface
Puckers
Diacritic raindrops
Slowly
Softly
Each plop and their purple ripple
Has not enough splash
To generate an echo
From the reedy shore.
The storm not so strong to hide the sun
For long
To move a wind
Or slice the sky with lightning
Rolls by with quiet thunder
Wetting my hair and all the early blossoms.
My spirit lifts while its shadow stoops
Cups the mud.
This gentle stir
Today
Seems to awaken and nudge the air
Just enough
To take His hand
Away
Sets free
The spring Dove
From his fist
Writes its wings in a mist
Changes his mind from Him to Her.
Towards the thaw
As the days of spring are here, I should be happy having made it through the winter. The April breeze brings regret, remembering what had been pushed aside, no, I was no mother’s favorite son
Recalling every detail, overthinking every word said, reacting with angry silence as a defense to hurts felt as a betrayal. No, I was not a sweet boy happily playing in a backyard with a toy
The spring breeze also tells me of an ending, my doctor’s remark of scaring bathers with dark blue blotches on my white body, it is like the process of death has begun when still alive
My anger keeps me going. I was dealt a pack of cards and did my best, bought the small blue houses on the monopoly board the affordable ones. I have no regrets and wait in silence
Slowly releasing its grip
The ice recedes
Mud warms in a faint sun
Jonquils peek through snow
Robins open the summer house
Winter chuckles
Spring awaits her curtain call
Winter far you chased me from your presence.
You know, when frozen, my blood fails to thaw,
So this your cold smile is for what essence?
Winter far you chased me from your presence.
Don't you know your stares rob me of pleasance?
To each of your knocks my heart gazed in awe.
Winter far you chased me from your presence.
You know when frozen, my blood fails to thaw.
Winter has cast its strangling hold inside and outside.
The joys I have known are gone.
Cold winds blow bleak and harsh.
The flowers in my garden have wilted and withered.
All things sweet have passed and flown away.
Flakes of snow, layer on layer, lie piled within,
And harden as rocks with worms of fear inching their way,
To eat away all the delicate buds of hope.
Spring, Oh! Spring grace me with your regal smile,
Brightening my sky with constellations of stars.
Crash down the walls that segregate, leaving me a fugitive,
And pour love's balm into my bruised soul.
Possess me as an unseen benevolent spirit,
Thawing the frozen interiors with your warm sunshine!
Grass stalks rise upward.
to a head of fading gold
Their wings were fully spread.
a cerulean cape,
The morning smoke blows.
The willow tree was still drenched.
with lengthy icicles akin
Cat's whiskers
Daffodil drums sing an ode.
a parade in the clearing dew
on strewn gossamer
akin a wedding veil
Dawn weeps crimson tears.
and I'm just a whim
to embrace the richness of the dawn
as fresh as a chew
from a crisp apple
Rivers trickle under the branches.
Crocus blossoms in the melting snow
soiling their newly opened purple heads
dribble, dribble, dribble
Cherry blossoms burst open in my heart.
as young ducks.
velvet of a sunny yellow hue.
glide across the smooth lagoon.
Disposing of hatching eggs
of translucent porcelain.
an obvious awakening that appeared
would never happen.
Written: February 26, 2023
Your Option Again Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Brian Strand
January Thaw
In the thrall of January’s dismal weather
(Comprising snowstorms and freezing temperatures)
While staring out the window from the interior,
I endeavour to regather my composure
By testing myself with a blithe question, I think keen,
“Isn’t this the coldest January you’ve ever seen?”
And wryly smile to myself with a whimpered answer,
“I think that the coldest January I recall,
From day one to the end of the month without thaw
Is this one, the coldest January of all!”
powdery snow-drenched
coldest in seventy years
eyes frostbitten from hot tears
frozen mustaches
stalactites dripping with chill
million ruble lunch to thaw
winter's slumber ends
colour bursts through monochrome ~
life frolics, resumes
5-7-5 syllables checked with howmanysyllables.com
1 April 2022
Early Earth thaw
First gasp of breath
Heaves its snow chest
Like a blanket pulled back
Arches its cadaverous humps
A surfacing serpent
Along the street curbs
Slithers to the drains
Snakes away through the pipes
Spills over the dams
Swims in the rivers
Toils to seas
Butterflies as rain
Tombstone wave
Ten thousand miles away
Taps the cedar of a clipper ship
Once a snowflake
In this winter land
Marking a grave
In a frozen drift
Outside my kitchen window.
****
sun melts ice, water
stream rushes toward river...
calms in warm ocean
Written 3/2/2022
Contest: H Forms - Traditional Nature Haiku Poetry
Sponsor: Constance LaFrance
~~ 2nd~~
Permafrost upon the boughs,
in a glistening diamond wood;
where the water meets the Terra,
thin sheets in semi-melt
perform a slow ballet.
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