winter

Night lights

Nighttime walking
when the cold bites
and the little lights line the streets
like crooked teeth in the night’s wily smile

We walk a while
We wait for feelings that were once erased
We know they can’t be replaced so we chase them
into snowy streets
onto ice sheets where cars don’t dare to drive

We hope to come alive

We walk a while
and try to find our smiles

January

Breezes move twisted trees
and dried up leaves teeter on the tips of stripped branches
Their quick dances end when their stems are ripped
and the leaves are whipped into misty air
leaving the branches bare

Birds break pods of plants long gone
interrupting each other with chatter and song