Author Information
the turning embrace, a quartet of seasons
The Turning Embrace
(a quartet of seasons)
winter’s hold
(after the fall)
boughs peeled raw
rusted foliage bequeathed
to groaning gales
I draw close
embraced in bark
around her waist
midsummer
(summer at full tide)
heat pools between
broad leaves and sky
cicadas stitch the hours
into a single shimmering cloth
her hair smells of sun‑ripe grass
and my hands
rest easy in the green calm
the river purls low
around our ankles
its song a slow promise
we pretend not to hear ending
bud‑bound
(spring rousing)
she leans again into
the emerald sigh
sap quickens in her veins
and I unfold fingers
about her waking bough
perennial jazz
(autumn into memory)
one hundred years
and still he plays
through the crackle of vinyl
I cradle the notes
like last warm light
over a coppered canopy
evening full of wonder
I will always listen
.
