Aurora Lee Passin

 
Winter, paralyzed

They promised us a melting planet
—and somewhere else, it is—
But here in a suburb that stares at mountains
this winter has paralyzed the sky. Made it brittle and white.

Winter opened its maw and inhaled
the heat like krill from us earth bound things,

degree after degree falling
away until crystals thicken in veins,
birds and other shelterlost bodies
become as still
as this sky.