Lori writes the word winter on paper.
She sketches snowflakes in the margins.
The flakes are not anatomically correct.
They lack symmetry.
Feeling odd, she sketches them
with five and seven points.
Each flake has speared
a long stem of winter grass.
A stiff wind does not blow them free.
Lori shivers from the wind chill.
With a ruler she draws angled shadows.
Straight lines make the scene unnatural.
Lori cannot trace the wind’s arc
or the circular motion of the swirling grasses.
copyright © 2023 Kenneth P. Gurney
Umflop 