FROM ONE MAN TO ANOTHER

JAMIE SAMDAHL

Wanting to watch our spit freeze and plummet

we walk to the quarry      on the coldest day of the year

 
we try for silence      it is too cold for birdsong

too cold for pileated jackhammer

 
but also too cold for true stillness and our boots crunch

and skid over the grainy crust of snow

 
I’ve never visited you at home before

 
towards the quarry our secret thoughts

carry on the wind like music      piano
 
slow     on the slick bits     I want to ask

which Greek myth am I thinking of

 
my mind stuffed with white frost feathers

a swan—

 
we meet dusk and the winter constellations

I decide to save it all for another day

 
on my way home

I drive straight for Orion and he opens his arms to me

∘∘∘