“Ode to Pogonip” by Lee Ann Eckhardt Smith
Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “Ode to Pogonip” by Lee Ann Eckhardt Smith.
Ode to Pogonip
By Lee Ann Eckhardt Smith
When a rare, cold curtain
blurs the valley, and white mist
like a headdress adorns the mountain
beware “White Death”, the Shoshone insist.
This marvel, seen only in winters
with conditions that drive fog to freeze,
creates graceful garlands that descend with silent stealth
and hide within their gossamer drapery tiny ice splinters.
This fragile décor on the branches of trees
seeps into tender lungs and steals children’s health.
These shimmers in milky sunbeams interspersed
with shrouds of deadly consequence disbursed:
pale veils comprising Nature’s best and worst.
Copyright © Lee Ann Eckhardt Smith
Lee Ann Eckhardt Smith is a writer of many genres. She is an award-winning poet and her work has been included in several contest anthologies. She creates Poetry Art from her photographs that spark new ideas for poems. The author of two non-fiction history books, Lee Ann also regularly publishes articles with the Historical Novel Society and Master Gardeners of Ottawa-Carleton. She lives in Richmond, Ontario, an historic village outside of Ottawa. Visit her website: https://leeanneckhardtsmith.com.
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