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I.
Fields and garden gone to seed;
The sun’s only warmth,
Brussel sprouts, deflated squash.
II.
Frozen rain on wires and trees;
For days wind-dropped ice
Rings on lacquered snow.
III.
Mist dilutes the valley,
Blanching burrs and pine needles
With a wash of frost.
IV.
Windy night by the pond.
Shifting ice groans and whines:
Hoot owl. Silence.
V.
The cold wind
Of many-weathered March
Steams the rotting leaves.
VI.
April downpour.
Birds make noise as if
To talk away the weather.
VII.
Blank-eyed bass drift
Under yellow reflections
Of the wet-footed iris.
VIII.
Snail school:
Rainbow slime chalks
The flagstones.
IX.
Goldenrod and goldfinch
Firefly the fields:
Evening day.
X.
Empty farmhouse.
Cut-grass breeze. Dew fall.
Peacocks call and call.
XI.
First cold night:
Peepers have gone under mud.
No one remembers the noise.
XII.
Indian summer
Misting the driveway.
October and July commute.
1997
John Hamel grew up in Central New Jersey and is currently a High School teacher living in Minnesota. He has published poems in journals such as Notre Dame Review, Arion, Journal of American Poetry, Edison Review, and Wandering Hermit. He also runs his own imprint, Briarwood Editions, where he has published small, limited addition booklets with his poems and drawings.