#winter stranger

[cntarella]

the notion of winter falls everywhere even in California it descends even when we can't see it it is like moonlight tonight the snow looks like crushed pills and I don't care about trees or mayors or bakers or fathers I care about the snow — how grim it is in the dark and how quiet in the light

"The Christmas Poem" from Winter Stranger by Jackson Holbert

[cntarella]

A long life full of terror/ is still a long life. And the terror/ subsides after a little while/ until you can barely distinguish it/ from the clouds. (I promise.)

"The 26th Birthday Poem" from Winter Stranger by Jackson Holbert

[cntarella]

when you see some things/ for the first time/ you know you have to go// but it takes seeing them/ over and over/ to know how and where and when.

"Another Winter Poem" from Winter Stranger by Jackson Holbert

[cntarella]

But how was I/ supposed to know/ that death doesn't/ have to leave a mark/ to come and go/ at any hour/ of the day or night,/ that some years he/ sends just his fingers/ toward you/ and some years he sends/ his entire body/ to sit gently/ on the bed beside you.

"These White Letters Look Nothing Like the Snow" from Winter Stranger by Jackson Holbert

[cntarella]

I promise there is joy/ even if, at times, it feels/ like it has been refracted/ through a window, that/ some meaningful fragment/ has been lost on its way to me.

"Letter Sent and Subsequently Returned by the Mailman" from Winter Stranger by Jackson Holbert

[sweatermuppet]

the christmas poem by jackson holbert, published in winter stranger

[beguines]

Jackson Holbert, from "Burying the Dead High Up on the Mountain", Winter Stranger

[beguines]

Jackson Holbert, from "For Taylor", Winter Stranger