There’s a chill where I walk
So I can’t stop and talk
It’s a pressure cooker winter again
The fruit was bent, seeds took flight
There’s only the crunch under foot
And the blackened dog Mary named Soot
The chimney pipes talk real loud
Train cars crashing together off Central Avenue
Break the icy air like thunder at a feast
It’s heard across a quiet Nordeast

Getting closer
Checkered flag on my GPS mind
Wasted breath dead
Frozen and sprawled over a beard with clout
Gotta get in that door
It’s hot in there like Palm Springs
Chick singer band really sings
Leave the train tracks behind
They’ll be there later to find
Bundle up all your frost bite fears
Step to the bar as cheeks burn warm
Man and best friend escape low mercury

Get a drink made of sweet bright grain
Belt it down and wait for Mary
Everyone looks pure and born again
Coming out of the cold into the sanctuary
With the night in front of us like Route 66
Catching our breath and shifting into high gear
Get ready for a new blistering year

Mary comes in christened by twenty below
I see frost on her lashes
She sees flannel on my arms
Take her in like a blanket
She wears a cross around her neck
Where a scar used to be
Her cold is a moment thieving my heat
We’re happy she’s here
Away from the rail

from Wanna Be a Rock-Star, Can’t Play a Gui-Tar

#NationalPoetryMonth

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