Pierrette Requier January

January is
a blue fissure
in the black clay
of deep winter.
January is
single-minded
slow
an eye opening
after cataract
surgery
a brain
after a blow to the head.
January drives
a team of strong
sweaty horses
hauls a heavy load
holds summer�s
sacred cargo safe
under a
well-secured
tarp
and pulls
it through
a narrow
icy
track
inches up a long hill
steady sure
steady sure
steady steady
over the crest
of the new year.
January is
the eye
of the needle
threaded with the gold of summer.

To the Beach

You know you�ve finally arrived when
Dad adroitly parks his car in a shady spot
when the long closed-windowed grouchy ride is over
when you un-squish your body from the full car�s
choking hold step our of numbness and feel
that first shock of soft grass on your feet
as you head for the dressing room
when you pull off your striped pedal pushers and top
and stand feeling shivery and naked
in your bright yellow bathing suit
when you run free and alone through the woods
delight in its mottled shadows and gnarled roots
down down the path to the beach
when you soak up the warmth of dry sand
then dig your toes in cool wet sand
find again the wave patterns
that the lap and the lap and the lap
of the waves have made on the edge
of the lake in your absence
when this water this lake and this sky
are your family and for one whole day
you feel like you can walk into forever

Pierrette Requier
Copyright � 2003

Pierrette Requier has enjoyed being a member of the Edmonton Stroll of Poets society for nine years, and a finalist in the last 12th Night Celebration in Old Strathcona on January 25, 2003 - winner of the Alberta Anthology Writing contest for the years 2001 and 2002 for both prose and poetry - in her creative writing workshops promotes beginning writers and well published writers - believes poetry feeds the soul of individuals and of a society, and is at its best when read aloud or performed.

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