Sleeping in Snow by Shannon Berry

Sleeping in Snow

By Shannon Berry, Department of Religion

For Breonna Taylor

I think of you

in your bed

breathing in and out:

the ocean within you

in quiet rhythm

You lie cozy in blankets and sheets,

head nestled like a dove,

no, a raven,

a stunning onyx,

facets shining

on the pillow.

In the evening.

simple articles:

calm, pedestrian, unremarkable:

pajamas

face wash

toothpaste

I collapse into my bed

exhausted

after a long day

of masks and marches

in your name

The only thing I could do for you.

Simple articles:

a marker

cardboard

a shout

a clenched fist

opening slowly to the sharp frost

that slices the membrane,

the chill, the hypothermia.

I reach for a novel,

maybe the same one you read

before bed

before shots iced

through your apartment,

stopping the waves of the ocean

within you:

ice caps on Lake Superior in the dead

of winter,

caught still,

shimmering.

Silent.

Stuck in place,

covered in snow,

with nowhere to go.