Poetry Pick

WINTERSET by Herb Barrett Ontario, Canada

Today the sky is gunmetal grey so leaden it seems to sag under its weight of snow Tree branches thrust upward like lances piercing cloud armor absorbed into mist And overall a windless pall enveloped desolate Saharas of drifted white We yearn for the turn of the equinox to free us from the blood's entrapment We would leave and never grieve mad in the caribbean sun something intangible holds us                       ...here we stay     (from SONGS FROM THE NORTH, edited by Tony Cosier and Jack Brooks, 1989)

Index