Monday, May 11, 2009

Early Harvest, Gusto Press


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

A Cross-Patterned Trail

Even the white sun
promising much in the clear sky
delivers no warmth
this devilish cold day. My
face is taut in the
knife-edge wind.

But down on the frozen creekbed
loping from bank to bank
shifting over fallen trunks
there's shelter. A
downy woodpecker
thrums the bole of a tree

too busy to care about me.
The hills rise snow-round
with curves as sensuous
as those in an Eastern harem.
Stark winter trees are stuck

like candles in the snow
as on a birthday cake.
The spruce and pine comb
cheerful green needles
and a nearby stand of oak

rustles red autumn leaves
in the creeping wind.
I leave behind me a
cross-patterned trail to
puzzle the animals
hunting the winter dark.

c. 1980 Rita Rosenfeld

No comments: