Capricorn
Capricorn is a video poem - an example of poetry in motion. The video enhances the images in the poem and the words lead the viewer to appreciate the photography in new ways.
The video and the poem can be found below.
In the crisp shine of early morning frost
a lost mitten reaches out its hand for help
but no one comes
and ice crystals wink at the winter sun
fearing its fire will end their spark.
A bicycle lies in a ridge of concrete sleet
buried in the night by a careless plow.
A bird, stock-still beneath the tree
that holds its nest,
wishes for warmth but is not blessed.
Drips fall from icicle tips in melting moments.
Rivulets run along the road
to crowded catch basins
where needles overlap
to stop the flow.
Corn fields rest flattened and unkempt
and rocks with scabs of green
sit stacked along the edge
and frozen branches sigh
and sway against the sky.
In sheltered moments grateful slippered feet
bask near the fire of their good fortune
and cocoa warms the hand that holds the mug.
The air is filled with waves of winter-speak
white out, black ice, wind chill and lake effect,
cold snap, ice cap, earflap and turtleneck.
Gloves, hats, and boots leave puddles at the door.
A shovel tilted in a snowbank rests and waits
and frozen branches sigh
and sway against the sky.
In the gray blue dusk that dims and softens time
an oak leaf floats stiffly in a pool of slush.
Snow steps stagger in the frozen footfalls
unhurried under the darkening December sky
through the crackling decay of broken leaves
toward the woods where the pale grass shivers.
The downy cattails keep their silent watch
over the gravel path filled with corn snow
between the faded stones that mark the final beds.
Fat acorns with their caps to keep them warm
lie scattered on a crust of mud and icy sludge
and frozen branches sigh
and sway against the sky.
Martha Brill