Silence in the Snowy Marshes

Twenty-One Seconds

During that freak January snow,

Low Country marsh grasses

poking through hard frost,

flakes swirling

from colorless sky,

I skidded into an unfamiliar

hush in the worldly clatter  

as the earth stopped

spinning, words melting

on my tongue in the breath-

taking moment I leaned

into cold wind

silencing this wordy life

and every day since, 21

seconds, a passing squall,

snowflakes on the camellias,

his warm breath in my ear,

that laugh like none other,

a chair slid from the raucous

Thanksgiving table

20   19   18    17    16  

15   14   13    12    

11   10    

…    …    

…    …    

 …    …  

…  …  

…  

—SL, Port Royal, SC, February 2025