ice song

full moon and 20 below
I live for nights
like this

crisp clear, static
electricity and the aurora
illuminating the frozen earth

only a few inches of snow
the soil will freeze deeper
creek and lake ice
growing daily
green trout beneath
the glazed surface

Once again I look inward
again I must stoke the fire
sharpen the chainsaw
file the axblade,
spilitting rounds of birch
and spruce, explosion
thunderous and dismantling
the rings into quadrants
which ripple telepathic
from the boreal forest

fox, raven, moose and owl

and beyond, spiraling outward
as a celestial emotion, to know
the bear and the archer

to sleep inside of the lunar lit quilt
smokestacks bellow a thick fog
into the valley
the dogs sleep curled in their houses
among the straw, evading the frost
tucking noses beneath wolflike tail

we are dogs answering each others howl
we are ghostwalkers trying to conjure
up a snowstorm, enchanted dreamers
slumbering warm coccoon, layered inside
the frozen orb