A belated but exciting announcement: my nature/love/grief poem "February 14, 2021" is in LitShark Issue 10! The full issue is free to read online: litshark.com/issue-10-lit... The paperback is available on Amazon: amzn.to/3S6oxHE

February 14, 2021
Midday, my eyes slide past
the porch door, gaze drawn
into the ice-glazed trees
Above snow luxuriant as pillows
or the fluffy blanket I hogged in sleep
and have fantasized against your flesh
Rime on branches like ash
on logs that survive a campfire,
under sun so bright it doesn’t look cold
—There, more vivid than any rose or wine
scarlet sharper than blood or tongue of flame
the cardinal rests, tilts his head
No messenger from Heaven,
reminder that you are never far, no,
just one blazing blessed brilliant bird
In the business of being a bird
perched on a bough too crowded
with snow to be lonely
Pinprick on the skin of day, evidence of how
the world without you still holds glorious things
and I cannot even resent it for that.
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February 14, 2021 Midday, my eyes slide past the porch door, gaze drawn into the ice-glazed trees Above snow luxuriant as pillows or the fluffy blanket I hogged in sleep and have fantasized against your flesh Rime on branches like ash on logs that survive a campfire, under sun so bright it doesn’t look cold —There, more vivid than any rose or wine scarlet sharper than blood or tongue of flame the cardinal rests, tilts his head No messenger from Heaven, reminder that you are never far, no, just one blazing blessed brilliant bird In the business of being a bird perched on a bough too crowded with snow to be lonely Pinprick on the skin of day, evidence of how the world without you still holds glorious things and I cannot even resent it for that.

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