Seasons of Forgiveness/III
By: Dick Altman
Northern New Mexico
Four days into winter – and I languish/
yearn for spring – Rage/grieve
to start over – plead the fates not
to burn/drown/desiccate high country –
as they did last year – leaving behind
vast/storied ruins – Skies billow yet
with vacant promises – Winds leap
our ridge – never lingering long enough
to treasure us – however little –
their cargo of rain/snow – gifted –
or so it seems – always to the valley
blooming next to mine
Indian Country this is – for hundreds
of years – How did they survive –
Oppressed/bedeviled by the seasons –
how long would I have lasted – Three
or four years of vigor – followed
by slow decline – an unyielding withering –
a hopelessness – If I were a tree – and I’ve
planted scores – likely I’d now be tinder –
Spring arrives bearing dreams – nothing
more to awaken buds – Other trees –
by fortune – leaf out – My aspen – favorites
I feed/water/love – remain – huddled
in nakedness – winter-raped
Where go wrong – where fail – Drought
invisible – You only see its scourge down
road – too late to conjure miracles –
as if I ever could – The “I” won’t give in –
Or perhaps it isn’t “I” – but something
deeper inside – something that sees a tree
akin to itself – and I’m driven to hold on –
I have – with luck – with verdant ardor
and kindness – brought back to life pinions –
even birds – my hot breath turning shock
into flight – Hear me count days to spring –
Hear me cry out to hawks orbiting above –
Hear me pray – in whispers – to endure
Dick Altman writes in the high, thin, magical air of Santa Fe, NM, where, at 7,000 feet, reality and imagination often blur. He is published in Santa Fe Literary Review, American Journal of Poetry, Fredericksburg Literary Review, Foliate Oak, Blue Line, Landing Zone, Ca-thexis, The Offbeat, Haunted Waters Press, Split Rock Review, The RavensPerch, Beyond Words, New Verse News, Wingless Dreamer, Sky Island Journal and others here and abroad. A Pushcart Prize nominee and a poetry winner of Santa Fe New Mexican’s annual literary competition, he has in progress two collections of some 150 published poems. His work has been selected for the forthcoming first volume of The New Mexico Anthology of Poetry, to be published by the New Mexico Museum Press.