John Samuel Tieman: Midwinter

for all the trouble we go to
to get the news on the lawn
how we brave the strange wind

in the linden tree
brave the occasional black ice
brave the mailman’s stare

stranger still is how we read
the obituaries as if we’re reading
the last draft of something pure

rather than running from
the gravel beneath our barefoot feet
stranger than that is how we read these

obituaries as if we’re beseeching
the pious passer-by for the right
directions as we blunder deeper

Julia and Mike, d. 2/5/15

—

copyright 2015 John Samuel Tieman