After the ice storm in February

Lily Kramer Roth

"/" indicates a line break.

in a world coated in crystal,/Earth heaved, sighed, and rolled over./so instead of snow it rained/blowing cold bullets that splattered shrapnel everywhere,/and the trees screeched, struggling against their icy chains.

everything is frozen solid,/slow and slippery, held in a snow-wrapped trance./black monument trees mark the way through the white abyss;/roads drained of cars, paths disappeared./some daredevil skates kamikaze down the hill

in the stillness, after the storm,/the whole of creation is forced to take stock./broken branches need to be healed,/weathered buildings and ravaged nests rebuilt.