The World of the Prairie ~ 2

And in winter 

give me a church made entirely of 

crystalline ice and snow while I bundle 

in fleece and down coats 

to feel the sting and burn 

of cold on my cheeks.

To flop in the snow 

to sculpt snow angels 

To push against a fierce wind 

to get to the rink only to 

hear the crisp and slice 

of skates on freshly flooded ice

To catch snowflakes on my tongue

And then to run into the warmth 

of my mother’s kitchen for 

hot chocolate and cinnamon toast.

“There was nothing so real on the prairie as winter, nothing so memorable.”

~ Martha Ostenso, novelist

(1900 ~ 1963)

Give me a church made entirely of ….. from the poem Sea Church by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

*Author's note: A wintery reprieve from the heat of summer!