James Walton #45 Stretcher Bearers

snow only comes with death here

I thought I heard you say

but it fell twice at Christmas

as we watched the truancy of crystal

shredded coconut out of trees

refusing to stay grounded

albino kelp on the herbs

a tincture of ointment rising

out of that braiding landscape

and I was thinking of how

lepers were smoked with rosemary

so as not to announce in begging

their presence among the healthy