Threshold, M.O. Publishing Company (1)

Herewith, the latest selection from dusted-off published poetry and short fiction, circa 1970s vintage and beyond....

Snowshoeing Mud Creek

The wind slaps our faces
as we wide-leg it over the flats
to the ravine. Snow sifts
through our snowshoes as we
wind back up, clasping spruce trunks
dangling cones, the air redolent
with their fragrance.

Under the trees are
nocturnal imprints of
snowshoe rabbits and their
piles of pellets. We slide the slope
then the cusp of the creek
then finally skitter like
day-old foals on the ice.

We walk the frozen creek
below huge snowbanks
where here and here
cedar clumps have slipped down
cluttering the creekbed.

Above, traffic sounds recede
leaving only the cries of
Pine Grosbeaks fleeting the wind.
High above us blasted Pines
dot the banks, their greens
harsh against the shadowless white.

c. 1979 Rita Rosenfeld
published in Threshold, 1979