Winter
Tapping
Winter came tapping,
long limbed,
blind as a wet kitten,
mewling.
Winter came shoving,
hag-mouthed,
possessed
by the skins it had taken.
Winter walked with me
when I told it no.
When I hushed it,
Winter kept calling.
Winter crawled into my spine
and withered
I trapped it there
for safe-keeping.
Nina Parmenter
If you have any thoughts about this
poem, Nina
Parmenter would be pleased to hear them.