The winter of my skin

By T. M. Thomson

careens for miles on end—
snow banks surge & billow
& sag    ice on ponds splinters
following the path of raven’s 
pebbly toes    flecks of sleet
that have absorbed mud & seed
lodge themselves across my landscape 
husk & rind.

Yet inside this thinning membrane
sun blazes into magenta spangles
& a masterbatch of mikado & xanadu 
amaranth & viridian    warmth plunges
& spreads across scalp & back
twilight descends with its electric cloud
of fireflies    someone calls me
across an ocean of grass
each blade a wave

emerald & fragrant
prickling soles 
ferrying sinew & bone
across childhood’s yard
from summer shore 
to summer shore
while December shatters 
carapace until moss eddies
& sprouts from its spotted scutes

Three of T. M. Thomson’s poems have been nominated for Pushcart Awards. She is co-author of Frame and Mount the Sky (2017) and author of Strum and Lull (2019), which placed in Golden Walkman’s 2017 chapbook competition, and The Profusion (2019). Her passions include kickboxing, playing in mud, and savoring art. You can find her writer’s page at https://www.facebook.com/TaunjaThomsonWriter/.