I should have managed Winter better.
Every day something distracted me,
like the smell of big trees and rain.
Did I squander the darkness?
Every day something distracted me.
I fell into the rhythm of Winter.
Did I squander the darkness?
That must be why, in my dreams
I fell into the rhythm of Winter.
The rain could not stop falling.
That must be why, in my dreams
the sky was full of holes.
The rain could not stop falling.
How do people live through this?
The sky was full of holes.
Moss grew in soft fingers.
How do people live through this?
The dark felt like abandonment.
Moss grew in soft fingers.
I was drawn to the pleasures of the flesh.
The dark felt like abandonment.
I was drawn to the pleasures of the flesh,
like the smell of big trees and rain.
I should have managed Winter better.
Erica Goss is the author of Night Court, winner of the 2017 Lyrebird Award from Glass Lyre Press. She has received numerous Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominations, as well as a 2023 Best American Essay Notable. Recent and upcoming publications include The Colorado Review, The Georgia Review, Oregon Humanities, Creative Nonfiction, North Dakota Quarterly, Gargoyle, Spillway, West Trestle, A-Minor, Redactions, Consequence, The Sunlight Press, The Pedestal, San Pedro River Review, and Critical Read. Erica served as Poet Laureate of Los Gatos, California, from 2013-2016. She lives in Eugene, Oregon, where she teaches, writes, and edits the newsletter Sticks & Stones.