Shoulder Cold

Nothing colder than
the shoulder
turned to an open hand

Oblivious

They eat their burgers
in windows
facing the snowy
street where men
with lowered eyes watch

Please

But I love you said he
and what said she
does that have to do
with me?

Watch Out

Watch out for her
said the odd mother
to the new stepmother
the little girl standing
between them
that one - is a cold one
a little bitch if you must
know...
This won't be any fairytale

Womb Chill

There is a place
of unparalleled cold
in every woman's womb
where once an awaited
babe died unheld

Kaitlin In The Woods

Finger poised above
tender child flesh
upturned neck flops
in impossible angles
The finger has touched
his own daughter's neck
dazzled by its softness
The father finger hovering
here postponing the inevitable
descent, hoping for warmth
and finding as it probes in
gloved professionalism
only the expected cold

That Scarf Upon Her Head

I used to laugh at my mother
along with my younger brother
as she would ready herself for bed
a bathrobe, socks and a scarf upon her head
my father slept there on her right side
the window in coldest night open way open gaping wide
I used to laugh at my mother
Along with my little brother
at the way she could never get warm enough
as my father under lightest cover told us he lied there in the buff
I'm not laughing so much now-a-days as tortilla wrapped I lay
my body layered, my feet encased, as warm I try to stay
chagrined, stymied, filled with regret at mocking my mother pointed rude
as now, the man I married long ago, sleeps lightly covered, warm and nude

Cold Words

"I don't like the way
you walk, I don't like
the way you talk,
I don't like you.
She said leaving
her kid sister alone
with a sobbing man
and a small velvet box

Night Terror

Lying there in the dank
blankness of dark
waiting for the warmth
promised but not believed
glimmers of icy eternity
broken by pounding gasp
of breath regained and
awakening returned from
the frozen arms of terrored
night

A Cold

Achoo, drip mucous
in the stream
of steam that is cold

Shoulder Cold

Nothing colder than
the shoulder
turned to an open hand

9 Cold Poems

Shoulder Cold

nothing colder than
the shoulder
turned to an open hand

*****
That Scarf Upon Her Head

I used to laugh at my mother
along with my younger brother
as she would ready herself for bed
a bathrobe, socks and a scarf upon her head
my father slept there on her right side
the window in coldest night open way open gaping wide
I used to laugh at my mother
Along with my little brother
at the way she could never get warm enough
as my father under lightest cover told us he lied there in the buff
I'm not laughing so much now-a-days as tortilla wrapped I lay
my body layered, my feet encased, as warm I try to stay
chagrined, stymied, filled with regret at my mocking mother pointed rude
as now, the man I married long ago, sleeps lightly covered, warm and nude

*****
A Cold

Achoo, drip mucous
in the stream
of steam that is cold

*****
Cold
Lying there in the dank
blankness of dark
waiting for the warmth
promised but not believed
glimmers of icy eternity
broken by pounding gasp
of breath regained and
awakening returned from
the frozen arms of terrored
night

*****
Kaitlin in the woods

Finger poised above
tender child flesh
upturned neck flops
in impossible angles
The finger has touched
his own daughter's neck
dazzled by its softness
The father finger hovering
here postponing the inevitable
descent, hoping for warmth
and finding as it probes in
gloved professionalism
only the expected cold

****
Womb Chill

There is a place
of unparalleled cold
in every woman's womb
where once an awaited
babe died unheld

*****
Cold Words

"I don't like the way
you walk, I don't like
the way you talk,
I don't like you.
She said leaving
her kid sister alone
with a sobbing man
and a small velvet box

*****
Watch Out

Watch out for her
said the odd mother
to the new stepmother
the little girl standing
between them
that one - is a cold one
a little bitch if you must
know...
This won't be any fairytale

*****
Please

But I love you said he
and what said she
does that have to do
with me?

*****
Oblivious

They eat their burgers
in windows
facing the snowy
street where men
with lowered eyes watch

Kaitlin in the woods

Finger poised above
tender child flesh
upturned neck flops
in impossible angles

The finger has touched
his own daughter's neck
dazzled by its softness

The father finger hovering
here postponing the inevitable
descent, hoping for warmth

and finding as it probes in
gloved professionalism
only the expected cold

Shoulder Cold

Nothing colder than

the shoulder

turned to an open hand