Oh! It is so much. Ohio trees in winter with hoarfrost!
Sun changing solid to liquid, a former crystal world.
Now one of blue jays, gold finches, brown crested sparrows,
black capped chickadees, royal-colored cardinals
perched in a bright garden of theirs and ours.
Oh, it is too much that is and is.
Seen by eye of bird and human, then covered
by winter grass, leveled by the constant snows
that with spring, the snow now and then,
comes and goes, to revive the fields.
Ohio fields of then plowed furrows
disappearing to a horizon, not wandering
but of purpose now, now are
dotted with images of sky reflected
in pools of water in the Ohio soil.
So very much that is without doubt of this world!
—
Michael Romary was a university librarian at Indiana University, from which obtained his professional degree, The Ohio State University and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). He has published most recently in Boulevard, The Laurel Review, Spillway, Atlanta Review, Poetry South, Sandy River Review, The Main Street Rag, Barefoot Review, Spitball and other publications. He has lived in Indiana, Colorado, Minnesota, Illinois, Ohio, Texas, Maryland, Michigan and North Carolina. He now lives with his spouse, Catherine Albrecht, in Raleigh, North Carolina and Grand Marais, Michigan.
