Going Out in the Snow
by
Radiance Angelina Petro
Winter’s ingathering, the lawfulness
of falling snow, little avalanche
when the white hare leaps from the snowy bush.
The morning when you clear
snow from the doorway, and the neighbor’s,
the morning of thin, tin-tasted air.
Knock ice from the gutters, shake branches–
cause flumps of snow to fall upon snow,
try shielding a match in the lamp of your hands.
This is your little portion of madness,
this is the startling, baffling of the senses, this
is the world holding its breath.