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November 3, 2016

Three Poems by Joan McNerney: "Twelve Steps to Winter," "Winter Watch," and "Woods"

Joan McNerney’s poetry has been included in numerous literary magazines, such as Seven Circle Press, Dinner with the Muse, Moonlight Dreamers of Yellow Haze, Blueline, and Halcyon Days. Three Bright Hills Press Anthologies, several Poppy Road Review Journals, and numerous Kind of A Hurricane Press Publications have accepted her work. Her latest title is Having Lunch with the Sky. She has four Best of the Net nominations.











Twelve 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.




Winter Watch

Tangled…one ragged
leaf clings to the bough.

Stopping to see the
shape of a snowflake.

Winter storm warning…
headlights beam at noon.

Came home just in time
for the first dizzy dance
of December flurries.

More amazing than
redwood forests...
your ice blue eyes.

Simmering soup fills my
kitchen with aromas.

All day my windows
chatter like nervous teeth.

Crystals spin together in
joyful pirouette…a cool ballet.




Woods

Sliding through arches
of elms sunshine
yellow and warm as honey.

Moss crawls over mudstone
while squirrels skip
around tree stumps.

Imagine to be a sea gull
in blue wind pushing
air through your wing.

After the long rain
pine trees bending
with cones.

Branches etch evening sky
turning razzle dazzle
purple red citron.

Leaves drop like butterflies
filling the floor of forest
with crunchy foliage.

See this snowy storm of
light quickly quietly
covering our moon tonight.

Long winters keep
greatcoats of frost
wrapped around our woods.


~Joan McNerney