Advent – Janet Barry

In each case there is something more to be said     I make my way down ice-clad

steps

hair and eyelashes frozen     breath clouds around me     pine boughs dance above

Which is not to say that water is the determining factor     or descent     or the

small track

path of a mouse across the blank plain of snow     In each case there is something

more

to be desired     how we move with precision     how we mask our minds from

pain or

face it head-on     frozen grasses bend and bow     trace a circle of wind to

encompass

roots     place     in each case     something more to learn     something to lose     a

blank of white where a pond once beckoned     a clatching conversation between

dry-bark

boughs reaching together for the thin sun     I feel the cold wander beneath layers

of fleece

flannel     a hand-knit scarf growing stiff with self made frost     something to

cherish

something to watch from afar like a hawk taking survey     floating now on its own

trajectory     following the tracks of mouse and bundled floundering woman     Which

is not to say that flight is the determining factor     or hope     I wipe my nose on

thinsulate

glove     turn to where the sun will leave     setting still cold     still waiting     how

we

fill our dark-tunnel nights     how we think of light in the silence

Janet Barry is a musician, poet, and photographer. Her poems have been published in numerous journals, most recently Snapdragon, Third Wednesday, and Clementine.  She has received several Pushcart nominations, and her photographs have appeared in Off the Coast and Around Concord. Janet holds degrees in organ performance and poetry.