winter XXXXVII

by Nathaniel Dolton–Thornton

AETHER /OAR

winter XXXXVII

the church doors were scaffolded so long
no one noticed the difference when they opened

the cattle graze island grasses now
in their usual mainland pastures

sandbars are sanctuaries outside river work
like high school history terms —

the Fertile Crescent, the Tigris and Euphrates —
to the deli clerk, heating paninis