One for sorrow, Two for joy

After Monet’s The Magpie

It’s late afternoon
& you’ve been wintering
on a wattle fence gate
watching sunlight drift
on fresh snow.
The oaks & you still
hold darkness.
You can’t leave
December alone
as you survey
long, blue shadows—
broken
brushstrokes
that pretend
to shade truth.

Victoria Nordlund’s poetry collection Wine-Dark Sea was published by Main Street Rag in 2020. She is a Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize Nominee, whose work has appeared in PANK Magazine, Rust+Moth, Chestnut Review, Pidgeonholes, and elsewhere. Visit her at VictoriaNordlund.com