Judith Skillman
A crust of snow
You like to imagine, as the drifts melt—
beached whales, pelican beaks,
royal penguins
stranded far from their eggs—
you the humanist
see human forms all too well.
A hand reaching from soot-remnants,
pleats and darts
folded back and tacked
as if to embroider a time
of angel-making,
when, hooded with your sisters,
you fell back into virgin snow
arms swinging back and forth.
Wings no longer taped,
no more straightjacketed to earth.
Judith Skillman is the author of Came Home to Winter (Deerbrook Editions, 2019) and 15 other poetry collections. She has received grants from Artist Trust and the Academy of American Poets. Her poems have appeared in Poetry, Cimarron Review, Zyzzyva, We Refugees, and elsewhere. Visit judithskillman.com.
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