Late Jan

2022.01.17

Christmas lights remaining

as the groundhog’s shadow nears

and the bitter vortexes

choke and freeze

and whip telephone wires

and interlaced tree branches

and send a sound like flapping sails

as we forget to mourn

our only American saint

and forego alcohol

in a temperate new year abstinence

and the entrails of

holiday milk chocolate

pile high inside our tummy rotting