Snow Flowers was published in the May/June issue of Coffee Press Journal. It's about the ambiguity of nature and creation--beautiful flowers are coached forth and then killed by the cold. Is this something sinister or is it really our failure to understand what nature is really about. Well, you don't have to dwell on philosophy to enjoy this poem. If you are a gardener, you know what I'm getting at right away. Embrace the Spring, whatever it may bring.

Spring, surly and defiant
sent an avalanche of snow,
covering my newly emerging
bulbs this year, crushing
their soft, nascent surfaces,
the golden blooms of daffodils.

I retreated into gray interstices,
my winter home,
and watched gales assault
Spring’s fragile beauty.

But even as cold darkness came,
my mind saw again
the flowers’ perfection,
breathed their fragrance,
and almost felt the sun
of those few, warm lazy days
that had given them life.

Creation is twofold—
wonderful beauty beheld
and its perfect shadow,
lingering forever in our minds.