Given a Life to Spend
Not holy. Not holy, yet wholly
snow spins like a swarm of bees,
like a gauzy cloud snagged in
the crab apple tree where red &
green birds feather dust branch
to branch to feeder, swinging
tenderly, like the priest’s censer
leaking pearl-gray smoke over
heads bowed in thoughts few
say in prayers, in lent’s ashes
that can be read as sad petitions
for one’s life centered on things
incidental & idle that fail to be
transmuted in a veil of incense.
M.J. Iuppa ‘s fourth poetry collection is This Thirst (Kelsay Books, 2017).For the past 30 years, she has lived on a small farm near the shores of Lake Ontario. Check out her blog: mjiuppa.blogspot.com for her musings on writing, sustainability & life’s stew.
Amethyst Review 