Heather Ouellette-Cygan: Week 1 of 208

A Fresh Pencil for a Fresh Hell

“For years, the belief that poetry is here to help us traveled with me everywhere, tucked into the pockets of suitcases, backpacks.” ~Naomi Shihab Nye

Sharpened to perfection, this

Natural Blackwing, with the hope

That all our fears are

Wrong.     That the coming storm

Will blot it all out. Erase it,

Somehow. Snowflakes shut

Down roads, so only our pens

Can travel. Shut down contempt,

So that our new neighbors

Might ride on words. Write

Their own lives. Pass their classes

And feel they may