Posted by Phyllis Cole-Dai on Mar 15, 2014 12:00 am
Walking in the woods, thinking about the coming war, late snow sifting down, I startled some geese in the nearby cornfields; they took off in squadrons, bugles blaring; the whump, whump of their wingbeats, rotors in the wind. I was thinking about Li Po’s “Grief in Early Spring,” and I grew colder, knowing what lies ahead, all those sons flying off with bright fanfares, returning home in silence.
Here, the Jordan Creek cuts through the marshes, rushing over stones, over pieces of ice. And the snow keeps on falling, softly, lightly—the coverlet a mother might settle on a cradle, as she watches her newborn sleep to make sure he’s breathing, his small chest still moving, up, and down.
"March" by Barbara Crooker. Published by Barnwood International Poetry Magazine, 2007. © Barbara Crooker. Image credit: "Jordan Creek Winter," painting in unknown medium by Mary Ann Huisman, 2007 (originally color). Read in browser »

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