It would seem that my penchant for literalism continues for another week with Marjorie Power’s poem “Apartment Windows in January.” We’re enjoying a few more days of January type temperatures here in the Northern Plains and her poem evokes the beauty of the cold. It appears in NDQ 85 which should be available shortly.

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Apartment Windows in January
Marjorie Power

No matter the hour
four blinds remain pulled.

Trees reduced to gray bones
have their own
beauty
is in the little things
on a snowless winter day:

a gutter full of leaves,
for instance, ice-encased,
glittering in the sun. I
wouldn’t want not
to view this.

Sun’s gone, day’s done.
Along with street lights
four candles come on,
each glow a veiled blur
with no flicker.

Imitation flames
still spark real hope.

~

Marjorie Power’s newest poetry collection, Oncoming Halos, was published in 2018 by Kelsay Books. Her poems also appear in six chapbooks from small presses, as well as many journals and anthologies. She lives in Denver, Colorado, with her husband, after many years in the Northwest. She can be found at www.marjoriepowerpoet.com.

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