Poem of the Month
Poem of the Month (December)
Written by Anthony Emmerson
Your moderators chose this as the Pick of the Month for December because of its content, form and structure, which all combined to provide a strong and stimulating read. The delightful assonance of skates/traces combine with such distinctively evocative terms as ‘arabesque’ and ‘pirouette’ to bring the verse to vibrant life. The imagery that is employed is as clear and sharp as the frosty air that is portrayed in the scene, transporting the reader to the lakeside where they are left awed and saddened by the vacant space that has developed in the picture.
David A. Troman
Thin Ice
Out there you never felt the whistling cold,
the scalpel probe of blue steel, seeking out
your crimson core. Scribing arcs across the
ice, arabesque and pirouette, sharp turns
where crystals flew like frozen sparks. Your
skates left traces, silvered tracks; we knew
the cracks, like sonar bleeps, would never
catch you. Oblivious, you’d spin; a snowflake
dancing, a winter moth, a transient comet
through our years. The day you disappeared
we found the jagged patch of blackness, and
a hole
in the still air.
