Pick and choose.

I have felt unsettled lately. I am not sure whether it is just the need for a change in routine or if it is an indication something more concrete. These winter months are dark, and I miss being able to spend time outdoors without the cold, wet weather.

........

The snow and ice from yesterday barely lasted through the morning hours, and the unusual weather was all but forgotten by the afternoon. Snow is so rare around here that life-as-we-know-it comes to a grinding halt when those little white flakes appear.

........

The two poems below are from earlier this year. The title of the second one is a reference to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

........

Holding Grace

Soft skin,
small hands
overlapping my own.
These make me feel
maternal.

Intuitively
I-breathe-in
to absorb this life
into my body,
pulling it deep
inside, somewhere
-must be-
near my heart.

This unbirthing
somehow settles
into whispers
and a tight hug
for a child
not my own.

........

Victor’s Progeny

It is heavy being you.
So many beautiful pieces,
but they never made a soul.

Consumed by what could be-
the potential, the projection-
I patched beauty into

incomplete patterns.

I wear you like a fine cape,
but the odor betrays the truth.