St. Paul

This guy’s beard
makes me want to move to Minnesota
become a furniture maker and set to
carving some fallen old growth trees
until animals emerge from
the wood shavings
and spread
two by two
throughout the upper floors of the house
cluttering up the stairs
where they begin their silent sit-in
while the sun falls from the sky earlier and earlier

a discussion about soil integrity
at a farmer’s market in St. Paul
leads to
‘Hello doe eyes!’
followed by all the romantic
trappings of winter: hot coco with bobbing
marshmallows; mittens drying before a
fire; and ending in the warm embrace
of my handcrafted bed in the shape of a grizzly bear

soon, progeny in quadruplet
scampering about the house
shouting in pigtails.
All of them
Alabaster smooth and pale like marble
Clambering up the stairs
Two by two
And spreading out amongst
Zebra hobby horses and
Panda rocking chairs

I’ll teach them how to ride bikes through
fallen leaves; how to scope out the best hills for
sledding in a weak pale dawn;
the joys of puddle jumping among budding flowers
and the delicate art of
adding buttresses to sand castles

and at night when the house is hushed
the dishes up to dry
and the kids squared away in bed
before turning in
I’ll put in a few hours
working on winter landscapes in oils:
The resilience of a decrepit barn in the snow,
The weight of snow on cedars;
The force of a driving blizzard
each one a solid depiction of subtlety
and that poignant
silence just after snowfall

 

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Judson Hamilton lives in Wrocław, Poland. He has published several chapbooks and, most recently, a novella entitled ‘The Sugar Numbers’ out now from Black Scat Books.