Snowed-in Soul – Matt Nagin

You ever heard of a snowed-in soul?

The buried stalagmite spirit? You

ever heard of Mr. Snow Man melting

in the forests of grim fire? Has it occurred

to you how the northern lights stab the

heavens and unlock jewel-studded

inventions? Or the way the ski slopes

shudder as the grisly spirits awaken

them with bold, athletic adventures?

Have you watched a man like me climb

a mountain, gripping onto snowy branches,

a deer, alert, hurling himself into the

brush; you ever heard of a gangly spirit,

trying to keep warm besides the last few

embers as the night crushes all with the

brutality of wind? You ever heard of a man

who lost his family and friends and retreats

into himself as the lake freezes over? You ever

heard of a hermit underground; the notes of the

abandoned fluttering up as if in an attempt at

a thaw? The darkness a curtain? The loneliness

a finality? Sheets of ice over all—even the most

readily-accessible dreams. The wandering

slow and wide into fields of white nothingness

a beach abandoned but for a blizzard of howling

ice and wind. You ever heard of a snowed-in soul?

Matt Nagin’s poetry has been published in Antigonish Review, Dash Literary Journal, The Charles Carter, Grain Magazine and Arsenic Lobster, among other markets. His first poetry collection, “Butterflies Lost Within The Crooked Moonlight,” was released in 2017, and has obtained very strong reviews. More info at mattnagin.com