–Hafizah Geter

 

Upstream,
the salmon fail,

winter catches them
one freezing current at a time –

we lose
the oak first,

roots crown, tired
with the earth

as we are with the animal
inside us that we have failed

to quiet. Winter
is an old milk

we leave
for the missing,

a starving flame
that calls

the unnamed
fox.

Photo by Luis Enrique Ibarra on Unsplash