Robin Bennett (December 25th / New Orleans, La USA)

Coldness began to shave me like ice
grating against bitten flesh
seeking my refuge in a
melting southern igloo

Knee deep in the ice water
of my dead home, an
unsympathetic sun burned
me pale and virgin

Here the Cold War lives on
trapped behind the eastern
side of the wall, I breathe in
monotony and cough loneliness

It's a shame to say, we still give
each other the cold should at times
When did twenty five years of marriage
become as distant as cold February
in Canada?

Our bed calls out for warmth, body
heat is rare. Do you hear me as my
teeth begin to chatter, " have we lost
it all? "