issue 6
// poetry
When Winter Ends
by Matthew D. Albertson
When winter ends, my soul will want to defrost. The warmth
Of Imbolc grows near—a season of lambing, a season of budding,
A season of mud and rain and cotton-clouded skies.
I’ll furiously weather the inevitable spring frost,
And lament my lost crop. Experience is the best teacher,
Or second to the earth, and yet is unreliable in our
Faywild climate. I’ll rescue the peas and the carrots
And the strawberries with plastic cover, but the cherry blossoms
Wilt. Hungry bees and hummingbirds will return soon to sip,
Nip at dry flowers. Mother help me. Though I curse these turnabouts,
Would it be Oregon without the chaotic weather? Unanswered,
I vanish into my work, tending the soil into loam, tending
The freshly germinated seed until my feet are swollen,
Just as my soul: inflamed by permafrost with the hope
That what was sown may be reaped.
about the author // Matthew D. Albertson
| Matthew D Albertson has the Pacific Northwest in his heart as a poet. His love of nature, the rain, science, politics, and myth all originate from calling the Portland area home. His previous work may be read in Alchemy: Issue 50, in Arcana’s upcoming “Smitten with the Written” anthology, on Oregon’s tele-poem hotline, and online at North Meridian Review. |
Instagram/Threads: @matthewdalbertson
wildscape. literary journal 