Two Poems from Bella

Photo by Barbara Johnston

Wintertime

I eat a warm starlet cookie arm by arm

and allow each crystallized gram to melt on my palate,

each sequentially fading into bitter sweetness

I hear the dog each night

nudge open my door and crawl over to me

with his soft eyes and flat ears,

until he falls asleep on the heated carpet

I watch the sun set inch by inch

on the same side of the cold pure blueness that it rose on,

until it’s gone again and again

Wintertime seems to be such slow predictability

sharply or softly

All will resolve

Callous

I strum until my fingers throb

And run until I can feel soles in my skin

I love and yearn until I am numb from warmth

And can no longer gauge the temperature

I do so much so fervently

Until I can do no more

I blister and callous

Over the feeling

Does this protection cheapen the feeling

Or indicate experience in the eyes of a deeply experienced world

To feel and act so deeply

Is not a weakness but a trial

How long can you strum

How far can you run

How much can you love

Before the minimum becomes just enough