Embertide

a new poem

Embertide 

On a walk, 
I think about death

until the thought 
exhausts itself 

back to the breath 
cycling through 

this body, 
a fumbled prayer 

vibrating my chest. 
On a walk, I notice 

how snow banks 
contract

into winter’s grit 
strewn 

over asphalt: 
paper saturated 

into pulp; 
plastic crushed 

into dim glitter
glinting in gravel. 

Marian blue 
full-mast sky

beams behind 
a neural network

of bare branches. 
I stop walking

and look up, 
untangling 

the knots 
in mind, 

until dizziness 
overcomes me 

and I drop 
my gaze 

to gather 
my balance.

Sight fixed 
on a point

where the horizon 
vanishes 

and the unseen 
returns my gaze.