WINTER COATS
When I sit in the armchair
beneath the lamp’s small shade,
sometimes I feel how it might be
to almost float away — I listen
with half an ear to the talk
at the dining table,
the scrape of chairs in the TV
room above, the slam of a car door
in a neighboring driveway.
Outside, the night grows darker
and the moon prepares to rise.
What kind of sleep
does the body crave in winter?
We’ll all put on our heaviest
coats that fall
past our knees. We’ll wrap
our heads in scarves and cover
our ears. The banks
of the river are darker too
than plum, and all the boats
have come to rest at its hem.
Igloria is the winner of the 2015 Resurgence Prize, the world’s first major award for ecopoetry. She is the author of Bright as Mirrors Left in the Grass, among many others. She teaches on the faculty of the Master of Fine Arts Creative Writing Program at Old Dominion University. Visit luisaigloria.com for more information.
Sandelier is a mom of two and an auditor and certified public accountant who lives in Red Mill and works in the Ghent section of Norfolk.
Used by permission. Copyrights belong to the authors.
