the winter of our content

Bon Hiver

a good winter coming

but how many blizzards
were suffered by
my mother and father,

their mothers and fathers

in the decades adrift
in north dakota

calloused hands in a chapping wind,
numb toes in uncertain footwear,
the watering of eyes turned icy tears

snow with nowhere to go,
gesso across an unending and flat canvas,
october through april,
halloween to easter

awaiting resurrection
from the dead
of cold

for mud springs
and bug summers

even the missouri turning to head south
before september's inevitable first frost
and the promise of

winter coming

here as well,
yet warm in your arms,
the heat that lies between
belies december's proximity,
denies the distance of spring
in anticipation of un bon hiver à venir

photo: 'snow falling through trees' by len marriot