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Alan Basting: A World Announces Affection in December’s Snow and Fog

September 6, 2022 by PBQ Leave a Comment

Locomotives

In the guise of oxen

 

Enter the village with humility,

Heads down, sweaty

 

From chugging up the street,

Hauling the resurrection

 

Bells to the chapel.

Lowing, gospel sounds

 

Drift like incense

Among the faithful

 

Wrapped

In frost-crusted robes.

*

Mistaking song

For sorrow and longing

 

For notes of Spring,

My dearest secret

 

Calls out to me

Over snow-capped

 

Hills at sunset,

Reveals its pining

 

Location:

Not a map, but a flame.

*

Practicing caress, reaching its

Tiny hands to fence rails,

 

Windowsills, fingers of the spruce,

The falling snow

 

Attains love’s earthly shape

By touch, consecration, embrace.

Filed Under: Issue 102, Poetry, Poetry 102 Tagged With: Alan Basting

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