melting ice

soft sounds of shifting —

we try again to forgive

first bird of the day —

singing me from my dream

into morning

behind my teeth

the questions I’m not allowed —

thicket with thorns

lingering pine scent

where the tree stood —

Martin Luther King Day

second snow day —

we add laundry to the list

of work to ignore

you sing to yourself —

notes finding our floorboard cracks

rise to reach me

the end of school break —

we stand around trading 

stories and germs

wine country —

memories of praying

this time we’d drive past

in bed with a fever

listening to the ice

crack