Tuesday, January 17, 2023

winter in two places

somewhere not here
someone I love finishes
a shift in the ER: 12 hours
in the dark, desperate hours 

over night... on his way home
dreaming of breakfast then bed
he nevertheless stops on the way
gently checks on someone else

huddled and sleeping in a doorway

way over here, I marvel at geese
standing on a layer of ice so thin 
it's almost barely a breath of frost
I watch as bit-by-bit the ice cracks 

and gives... and the geese settle 
into different spaces and poses
their refusal to panic at anything
to do with winter's fickle apparatus

my hunger, my yearning, are an infinity



Pic: geese (standing/sitting) on a very thin layer of ice. Red Cedar River. From Monday's walk with L.

4 comments:

StephLove said...

The description of the geese on the ice is lovely.

Nicole said...

So lovely, Maya.

maya said...

Thank you SO much, StephLove and Nicole!!!!! 💗

Gillian said...

Nice poem.

"pediatricians are the best"

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