by Eric Arthen

Descending

    tiny white flowers
    cover the windshield
    a long wait for spring

        the snowblower
        finally starts
        blue sky

    the western glow
    before moonrise
    field of white

Deeper still

    foggy night
    a twisting step
    to test for ice

        snow drifting
        off the hemlocks
        frozen pond

    winter moon
    shining white curve
    instead of stairs

        after the blizzard
        between barred owl hoots
        silence

Emerging

    walking the dog
    to where the snowplow stopped
    late winter sun

        expanse of white
        loading firewood
        from the bottom row

    forsythia —
    vase of branches and buds
    forcing spring

—

Credits: Six of these poems have been previously published in Frogpond 2009 Sp/Su; HPSWM 2012, 2018; New England Letters 91, 117; Nor’Easter 19; Stone Walls II v1.