Like the ragged end
of a goose shot, breath feathers
marking impact’s explosion,
snowflakes swirl down off sky’s
collision with the ground floor air
we breathe. Thunder rumbles, muffled
by the crowded crystals, gentling
through spaces
empty yesterday.
Thunder rockets across the belly of valley
ricocheting beween walls of rock mountain
shattering wind patterns, flattening leaves.
Under the cover of willows I crouch
for thunder to pass by without having to split
to get around the splinter of my body.
orphan poems 