Poetry: Joan McNerney

Joan McNerney

Suncakes

Do you know how to make them?

They’re supposed to be light

bright and full of vitamin C.

Everyone says you just glow

after eating one.  My friend

had a shining recipe I kept

asking for.  Suncakes stop you

from being cold and lost in

avalanches.

I remember something about filling

golden pans with flowers seeds

sunflower seeds…bake at

high noon, of course.  If only

there were a suncake now to

have with hot cocoa.  My friend

is so lucky wintering in Aruba.

Who gave her that recipe anyway?

I’m the one who’s freezing!

***

12 Steps to Winter

1. Kicking up piles of foliage,

the wind tries to enter my house.

2. I can see my breath right

in front of me now.

3. Maple leaves, oak leaves, all fall

leaves tumbling through air.

4. Window panes clattering like

nervous teeth at midnight.

5. Frost pinches my cheeks, kissing me.

A cool, cruel lover.

6. Quickly, quietly needles of snow

embroider tall fir trees.

7. That must be my friends stamping

their boots outside.

8. As the kettle boils, aromas of hot

cider spice the kitchen.

9. Our favorite songs stream

through hallways.

10. Sparkling butter cookies melting

in our mouths.

11. A tiger cat with big green eyes

tosses balls of yarn.

12. Galaxies of snow stars whirling

every which way.

***

Wintry Bouquet

This December

during wide nights

hemmed by blackness,

I remember roses.

Pink yellow red violet

those satin blooms of June.

We must wait six months

before seeing blossoms,

touch their brightness

crush their scent

with fingertips.

Now there are only

ebony pools of winter’s

heavy ink of darkness.

Dipping into memory of

my lips touching petals

tantalizing sweet buds.

My body longs for softness.

I glimpse brilliant faces of

flowers right before me as I

burrow beneath frosty blankets.

Bracing against that long, cold

nocturnal of wind and shadow.

***

January 

The watching clock

pinches each second,

holds a minute in

its hand...drops,

catching another.

 

Snow gently falls,

frost gathering upon

the pane.

 

As gulls

proclaim this

new morning,

the sun rose...

another golden flower!

***

---

Setu, October 2023