decembrous dawning
The underbelly of the clouds is lit
as they forage carefully on the stubble slopes.
The field beside the highway’s flat and grey;
a deer stands at the edge, alert and still.
Then bends its neck to nibble at a shrub.
A brisk wind carries rumors to the north,
and shakes the empty spaces where the leaves
had hung. The branches shiver soundlessly,
the traffic marches double-time and thick,
a clotted stream, relentlessly. The sun
strikes brittle diamonds from the painted scales.
A used car lot spreads out, a spill of crabs
frozen in time, paused as they scuttled away
from some intent, invisible predator.
Bio: JBMulligan has had poems and stories in dozens of magazines, including recently, Big Pond-Rumours, Doorknobs & Bodypaint, The Chimaera, Numbat, Poetry Midwest and BLueline, and two chapbooks: The Stations of the Cross and THIS WAY TO THE EGRESS, and has appeared in the anthology Inside Out: A Gathering of Poets.
Thoughts on poetry: I was attracted to poetry (reading and writing) because it is the most intense form of reading. To capture as much flavor of life as possible in the smallest of cups.