Hoarfrost

The appaloosa grazes a glazed field.
A twist of branches
risks its signature.
The sky's a blank.

Desultorily, the horse
divines the pattern of its hunger.
A hawk
plummets from the crown of a burr-oak.
Something dies
without fanfare.

Sleet falls. A rain of blind needles.
A speechless wind. The gibbous rise
of headlands to the east
black with menace.

Pour your eyes
into this landscape. Now you'll move slowly
as the appaloosa working his way
across the silver pasture
mouthful by mouthful.

West Branch. Collected in The Boundary Waters by Joan Colby
Damascus Road Press.