HOARFROST
RUNNER-UP FOR THE 2020 PINK POETRY PRIZE
We never thought we were old until lightning struck us.
The way our trunks had snapped so easily was a shock.
Our lower backs had been hurting for a while though.
It was so humiliating to lie there, abandoned.
The weight of frost on our joints strained our patience.
We weren’t ready to be decorated with badges of age.
Murmurs of concern from the underground rise;
we are still root-connected to our younger relatives.
Lichen knits trunk-blankets to comfort us.
The forest sounds very different on the ground.
Mushrooms whisper poetry into our ears.
They make us cry. We must be getting soft.
In this battlefield brambled with twigs,
we embroider our tears into the earth’s fabric.
Raymond Luczak is the author and editor of 22 books, including Flannelwood (Red Hen Press) and Lovejets: Queer Male Poets on 200 Years of Walt Whitman (Squares & Rebels). His work has appeared in Poetry, South Carolina Review, and elsewhere. A ten-time Pushcart Prize nominee, he lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and online at raymondluczak.com.