Below Zero

Ice petals on the trees.

The peppery black sparrows pour across

the frozen lawn.

The wind waits patiently behind the barn.

Though I’m not myself here, that’s okay.

I’ve lost my name,

my last address, the problem

that has kept me up all night this week in winter.

Such a long time coming,

this white timeless time in time,

with zero to the bone

the best thing anyone could ever say.

I stand here in the open,

full of straw, loose-limbed, unmuffled.

No one’s here, not-me as well,

this winter morning that goes on forever.