SNAKESKIN: The Poetry Webzine

Winter

The stars: frozen sparks in heaven’s glow,
Petrified, held in white winter -frosted teeth.
But soft over all the fall of snow below
the ground seems not so hard beneath.

Past the scope of human hearing,
now the night has swallowed sound,
Can you hear the blind mole slow wearing
out sharp claws below the ground?

A fox slinks a silent shadow by,
can sense the muted scraping mole below,
as her voice escape, a noiseless cry.
In silent arabesque, a burlesque show, so sweet,
she claps her lethal paws and agile feet.

With saliva frozen in her jaws
Departs disappointed to dumb applause.

Jan Huntley

Jan writes:

Wintertide is my first collection. In these northern parts, winter time takes up a larger part of the year than just Autumn and for this reason I have given name to a new and longer lasting season of Wintertide: of cold and dark, of beauty and joy. Many of these pieces have been waiting to take their place in such a book as this. They pave the way for further pure-blooded works, which have all been created within Kirklees and which I hope to launch next year..

I am proud to belong to several poetry groups within the Huddersfield area, particularly Holmfirth Writers Group and to have been included in several recent anthologies and events. This part of Yorkshire is fortunate to have such a gifted set of wordsmiths among them.

This little collection may be the ideal book to warm the hearts of friends and families as a gift for Christmas. There is something to interest every age, from unusual conversations with angels and Christmas tree fairies to winter woodland wildlife.

Copies cost £7.00 ( incl p & p), and can be ordered direct from the author.

If you have any thoughts about this poem or this publication, Jan Huntley would be pleased to hear them