Colloquy in Water
“It’s snowing again.” “Don’t mention it.” “Why not?” “I think it’s very pretty.” “It’s cold.” “You want it hot?” “I merely want it to be peaceful. I’d like the sky to rest In its convexity Awhile.” “I never guessed The snow was anything But snow.” “Who says it is?” “I do. Look at it Gently fall. Can this Be any signature But peace?” “A handless, six- sided, shaken sign The globe turns. It sticks Me in the eye.” “Your sight Is snow-blinded. Observe The snow piled whitely there On the cottage.” “The curve Of watery weather In the smooth-lined sky Distorts your looking — bends Your wish into your eye.” “The snow is soft as powder.” “It grains my ear.” “It falls Again.” “No, it leaps up To the tilting glass walls.”
by Richard Lyons. Published in the North
Dakota Quarterly, Vol 30 Issue 4 (1962).