Cold Winter Days
36” x 48
Acrylic/Canvas

Cold grey days
Phthalo blue nights
Dry brown patches 
Among sock covered legs 
Nestle for warmth 
In the dark green pinons. 

Now tight spindle-armed
Thin spaced
Compared to last summer
When warmth allowed liberty
This cold draws not just 
The patches of brown
Into these trees but also itself 
Needles pointy and lovingly tight.  

Dusk uncovers a
Deep orange yellow
Glow of winter sun
Slides across the Jemez
Deceptive in its reflection
Of a false warmth 
Allusion to arms and legs 
Not just winter trunks and branches.

In this fragmented reality 
Time appears frozen
The rays of the sun sink
To offer a lingering alternative 
To the darkness 
We know will lead us
Back into the light