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    • 3 poems by Chris Prewitt
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    • Issue 1.5: Hozier-inspired
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    • Issue 4.1
    • Issue 4.2
    • Still Standing
  • Home
  • About/Submissions
  • Masthead
  • Featured Poets Series
    • 3 poems by Chris Prewitt
    • 3 poems by Taylor Byas
    • 3 Poems by David Hanlon
    • 3 poems by Bailey Grey
  • Issues
    • Issue 1
    • Issue 1.5: Hozier-inspired
    • Issue 2
    • Issue 3: Recovery
    • Issue 3.5: Lana Del Rey
    • Special Summer Solstice Prose Issue
    • Issue 4.1
    • Issue 4.2
    • Still Standing
What is More Beautiful Than Winter
In Memory of Tammy
 
                  and water glinting on your boots?
                  That’s what I love about the snow
                  to hear the soft warble of songbirds
                  sloshing around below my shoes for
                  months after they’ve all flown south.
 
                  If you stand still and quiet, then
                  you’ll be painted into the night sky,
                  the hums of long dead crickets will
                  echo on in twigs sailing the winds.
 
                  The trees are braver than us both
                  because they go on when their fruits rot.
                  It’s not intuitive to hold out so long.
                  How do they breathe into the blue clouds,
                  their roots smothered under cold dust?
 
                  I’m glad that the fruit is underfoot,
                  glad for as long as I can listen
                  to the incredibly distant rustle of
                  ​your memory in wine-red leaves.

Samuel Swauger is a poet from Baltimore, MD. He's appeared in Tilde, the Ghost City Review, and the Charleston Anvil, among a number of other publications. He's a big fan of Frank O'Hara. His Twitter is @samuelswauger, and his website is samuelswauger.com. 
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