AQUATELOS A Thesis Presented to the Faculty ... - Cornell University

1. SNOW REGIME
i. The Living
Snow beats the silence till it stiffens.
It is folded into everything, toughening,
tautening. It breathes be still.
Veins of crystal assemble in its vacancy.
The world’s rounded, blinded
for a thankful lengthening moment
to its ruin. Things could grow
again themselves from this powder loam,
sloping miles of pure confection,
the bluesheen icing
gracing dry twists of trees
so that each one glows
behind splintered panes of air,
unbought candles. The forgotten
recalled, adorned with form’s memory.
Winter calms all but the sight.
There through ribs of alder catkins,
an unguessed trail, white scar turning
past a clearing whre little humps
gather, and out to listing grass and fences.
The sere is read high for old and low for new,
clear as black letters huddling
on self-made islands in the blank sea.
Land face bares itself deep into being,
weight of escarpments,
stamp of furrows,
splayed hills.
There is no veil of life
to choke under. And we, rasping
ice vapor over alveoli,
move fitfully, pinned by the end
of our gazes. How
many stars flick lightly at us
like riders with whips,
how the power plant’s twin stacks
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