Night can feel cold in winter, not tonight though…
Tonight… the air outside spreads freshness
Leaves decomposing with fallen stalks in the fallow
Cornfield. I sit, camouflaged by brush I am just
Like this brush in winter. Waiting for spring to get my leaves
Waiting for summer to spit the seeds of my berry
On the ground. Where will I be then? Or even, what?
We take our rest here below the trees, the frost and
Biting wind not a part of this story, just us, detritus
Of another trip round the sun. We will sort it out.
Not right now. We will just sit here in the stillness, silent
Not needing the air inside, just this jam of freshness
To spread on the loaf of our lives, finally risen enough
To bake.

As we begin a new month at the Go Dog Go Cafe, I share with you a poem I will be working on over at Fullbeard Lit. This has been one of the most well received pieces since I began blogging again in December. I look forward to spending time with it, crafting it and sharing with all of you the results. Follow me over there, here, and as always, stay and scroll around awhile to discover the wonderful writing of our Baristas, Guests, and friends.

Stephen began writing poetry as a teenager in New Hampshire and kept at it throughout a 27 year career in the Navy. During that time he found homes for poems in Scholastic, Powhatan Review, Skipping Stones, Portfolio, and the Virginia Pilot as well as having a collaborative poem shared in Christine Ray’s brilliant Myths of Girlhood. For a year he actively blogged as Sailor Poet and co-founded the Go Dog Go Cafe. Following his retirement from active duty, he has begin pursuing a writing career in earnest, has resumed blogging at fullbeardlit.org and is now the managing editor at the Go Dog Go Cafe.

(C) 2019, S Francis Fuller