Poem of the Month: January 2005

Snowflake

Timing's everything. The vapor rises
high in the sky, tossing to and fro,
then freezes, suddenly, and crystallizes
into a perfect flake of miraculous snow.
For countless miles, drifting east above
the world, whirling about in a swirling free-
for-all, appearing aimless, just like love,
but sensing, seeking out, its destiny.
Falling to where the two young skaters stand,
hand in hand, then flips and dips and whips
itself about to ever-so-gently land,
a miracle, across her unkissed lips:
as he blocks the wind raging from the south,
leaning forward to kiss her lovely mouth.

- William Baer

Journal prompts:

• "Timing's everything." What in your current life is perfectly timed? Or, what seems out of synch?
  
  
• What does the new year 2005 hold for you with regard to "sensing, seeking out (your) destiny"? What do you envision for yourself in 2005? What can you dare to dream for?
  
  
• A sonnet holds a particular rhyme form in 14 lines. (You can deconstruct the rhyme form easily in the sonnet above. Basically, three sets of four lines hold alternating line-end rhymes, closed by a rhyming couplet.) Try writing a sonnet on winter, or love, or your visions for the year ahead.