february’s last gasp

by Mercedes Lawry

Bark-battered, halo of moss,

efforts of clouds before storm,

the green necessary of the salamander.

Echoes take root,

hours elongated, stretched and snapped

as winter is aboveground.

Ferns argued into clumps, the soft

wheeze of a thin wind far up

beyond. A muck-skimmed pond,

imperious in its oddity, suspended in reeds.

The reach of place, the stunted season.

Mercedes Lawry is the author of three chapbooks, the latest, In the Early Garden with Reason,was selected by Molly Peacock for the 2018 WaterSedge Chapbook Contest. Her poetry has appeared in such journals as Poetry, Nimrod, and Prairie Schooner and she’s been nominated seven times for a Pushcart Prize. Her book, Vestiges, will be published in late 2022.