The Weight of Snow
(a collaborative tanka sequence written with Kath Abela Wilson, whose work appears in italics)
heavy snow
bending our boughs
settling so deeply
into this life's tracks
I didn't know we were lost
the hailstone
you pressed into my hand
a keepsake
the only diamond
you ever gave
snowflakes
melting on my tongue
remind me
of the way it felt
when you disappeared
what a paradox
you were
I watched a bit of white
foam on your lips
during your long explanations
snow falling
between then and now
filling my spaces
how I long for the touch
of your cold hands
Blood and Sinew
the homestead
rooted in prairie soil
and memory
my blood and sinew
snagged on barbed wire
how we spun
on the merry-go-round
wagon wheel
unwinding ourselves
falling into grace
taking turns
on the wooden pony
with horsehair tail
riding into sunset
wild manes on fire
empty silo
the sound of hoppers
and hailstones
singing harmony
with my sisters
Burning Down Morning
mad archers
with steel bows
and arrows
piercing the towers
burning down morning
peregrine falcons
in their tower aeries
no earthly wings
broad enough to carry
the innocent home
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