For Paul Brookes’ Special Ekphrastic Challenge (Jan. 7-Feb.6), I’ve responded to the three works below.

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Every Winter, but Especially This One

In a blanket fuzzy-soft with woven dreams
muted in the winter days of daze and grey-fog haze—

cozy-wrapped to window-watch the whipping winds
kiss the rocks and lick sand-blasted cheeks and chins.

But muted blues and greys, turn brighter as clouds part,
and dawn streaks the sky, and we try to reconcile–this art

of rapprochement, the unfurled fury with the sight
of so much beauty, so much light

hidden, so much forbidden, in history resurrected,
the monsters walk among us—sometimes undetected–

but see the sunshine, through the clouds,
and glowing now, vivid summer-loud.

Winter tears evaporate to fall as spring rain,
the patterns repeat—again

the woven patterns form straight lines of vibrant hue
to circle, cuddled in brumous blue–

to…