When Cold Meets Emotion

Lacy flakes danced, painting

the sidewalks and the pine

neighborhood fences white.

November arrived through

the chilly sky and touched

my nose their icy touch

a stark contrast

to the vapors moving

as I spilled my sorrows

through the window.

Nora pushed me out.

The door slammed,

echoing in the day’s stillness.

A fleeting breath caught

on the edge of a foreboding

expression that lingered in the air,

a subtle warning veiled

in the careless slip of her tongue.

The Washington winter’s chill

bit frostbite hard.

Pleading through the window,

for Nora to see me for the failure

that I was before I ended us

because I thought she’d ended us.

Mascara spread across Nora’s cheeks

to the beat of thunder in echoing

in her voice, saying everything, and then

some that she’ll regret when the vodka

wears off, and I’ll be gone like

a porch thief in December next to Christmas.

New Year’s can wait for Nora’s sobriety

to wear off, so I’ll toast to another night

of sipping water.

God gifted my wish for Christmas

arrived as Nora put down the bottle,

and let me in, inside of her heart.

By Andy Cooper

From: United States

Twitter: AC0040