Winter Passages

Searching, desperate
for any green thing
any live thing
to break up
the monochromatic 

khaki on tan
concrete sidewalks
solid cream structures
what I wouldn’t give
for a little roadkill 

something soft,
threatening to breathe
goading me to look
too long or not at all
the same thrill 

dashed feathers
fur matted brown
paper piñata belly burst
death heavy somehow
and so, so fragile 

my own guts
tumbled out of me
and I wonder
who was brave enough
or cruel enough 

to nudge me out
of the middle
of the path
my body’s sacrifice and
savior to winter’s passage

Donnie Secreast grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southwest Virginia and currently lives in Texas. Her work has appeared in Studies in the Novel and Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment. She is literary co-editor for Artemis Journal.