January Trilogy

1.

The Color of the Day

Silver is the color
today, the grass with bits of ice and frost, the hills painted
white, then glazed, with a backdrop of formless
clouds, a different shade of metallic gray, once green
trees now nearly black against the snow, the dim
light of a winter morning taking
away all the other
colors, leaving me
shivering
wondering
where is my coat of
ice?

2.

Getting Into It

On the roof, from the sky,
squishy in the grass, filling the ditch
beading up on the windshield, flung from the wiper blades
giving my Gortex a run for its money
hiding the mountains in wisps of gray.

Not until I unplugged the downspout, tossing the sodden
clumps of pine needles into the new lake by the shop,
when it ran down my sleeve, a gallon or two of the freshest,
did I really
experience the

Rain.


3.

Sunshine Surprise

This day, warm sun,
enough to leave my fleece behind
enough to drag out the dormant spray and visit the orchard, the rose bed
enough to look at small, red buds on twigs, and dream of spring chores.
I must find my pruners and my gloves;
they must be here
somewhere.

We throw open the front door,
stuffy winter house air slips out the back window
and I think I smell my fresh-mowed lawn.

Red wing blackbird streaks by, flashing its name,
its lonely call goes unanswered, and only the
little junco visits the feeder, the red tailed hawk
flying aloof above us all, now only
watching.

Winter took a break today,
and that is all I
wanted.