M. J. Arlett: The Weight of Water on Water
Aaron Burden
Snowfall in Pennsylvania
Leftover flurries are falling into the hot thick air
climbing up to greet it. The drink
in my hand is fogging and I am snowed in
by happiness, mulling in a tub
of artificial heat. So this is winter:
the weight of water on water, the creaking,
a whole landscape come to pause in the great
depths of what can be accumulated
given enough time. Mother, I’m sorry
I’m so far away, but —my god— if you could see it.
The deer are breaking from the forest, the sky
is a suffocation and I have seen nothing before this.
M. J. Arlett is an MFA candidate at Florida International University where she is the nonfiction editor for Gulf Stream Magazine. She was born in the UK, spent several years in Spain and now lives in Miami. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Lunch Ticket, Mud Season Review, Poet Lore, Rust + Moth, Tinderbox Poetry and elsewhere.
