A Winter Dare
Degrees below freezing I’m snowbound by
dark stark trees dressed as white ermine
Inside the little cluttered home
windows display drifting snowbanks
beckoning like loving arms
snow piles edged by silvery blue glisten
delicate patterns of ornate pale sheen
Tiny snowbirds snuggle against
the southern wall of the front porch chirping
in the winter chill
Bright with morning sun crystalline snowflakes twirl
through turbulent winds like playful children teasing
Golden rays shimmer across
snow-laden earth lighting up the trees
A wink of silence ‘til shaking birds sing out a plea
Snowy outdoors Step boldly
A brilliant world Awaits you
a.m. on the Bay a pantoum
Sun rises on the bay A boat motors a-sea slowly
Calm currents small waves Don’t alert the crabs
Grandpa taught crabber the craft
Swiftly dipnet scoops into shallow waters and nabs
Stable currents mild waves Don’t spook the crabs
When claws grab fish-bones crabs are lifted to golden light
Scooped by a net in the shallow bay They’ve lost their grubs
despite bright sun the crabs fight with all their might
Just as claws grab fish-food crabs are raised to sun light
Smoothly pulled in by a net Outa’ the bay into a boat
With so much brightness and might crabs have lost the fight
nabbed from the bay by crafty crabber in a motorboat
Ruth Ticktin coordinated international programs and taught English in the DC/Maryland region since 1977. Writing and always sharing stories, she is author of Was Am Going, Recollections Poetry/Flash (NewBayBooks 2022;) co-editor: Psalms (PoeticaPublishing 2020;) co-author: What's Ahead? (ProLinguaLearning 2013;) contributor: MarylandBards, GatheringPoetry (LocalGemPress 2023.) ZvonaiNari; Straylight Featured Author 10/2023. For more information please go to https://rticktindc.wixsite.com/ruth

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