Pepper Trail

A Walk in Winter

The snow sets the trees apart
Black trunks rising from the white
Midwinter, these pines are sleeping
The business of growth, of pollen and seed, suspended
But I know that within the frozen ground
Their roots still entwine
Like the fingers of sleeping lovers
Unwilling to surrender touch

Only the smallest and largest birds break the silence
Tiny kinglets, invisible in the tall frosted crowns
Let their calls drift down, high and sparkling
As the snow shaken loose by their foraging
And great ravens, rowing restless above the canopy
Croak and garble, a language of dark poetry
Resonant of blood, thievery, and brutal humor
Searching always to fill their appetites, to occupy their minds

I walk onward, breaking the trail I must follow
Back to the beginning, finding here what I want
The grip of cold, the satisfaction of solitude
But not the reasons for that desire, my wish
To be apart, to be asked no questions but my own
A mystery, whether taught or inborn
An inheritance or a lesson
This comfort found only among the trees

Pepper Trail‘s poems have appeared in Willawaw, Rattle, Atlanta Review, Catamaran, Ascent and other publications, and have been nominated for Pushcart and Best of the Net Awards. His collection, Cascade-Siskiyou: Poems, was a finalist for the 2016 Oregon Book Award in Poetry. He writes and explores the world from his home in Ashland, Oregon.