Coral Hull: Elk In Minus Twenty

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ELK IN MINUS TWENTY
elk in minus twenty, grazing on the frozen river bed, digging for green like dogs with their forelegs, they turn from me, a world of ice between us, they are part of the snow landscape, if you held a camera and turned 360 degrees taking photos, you would see how much they were part of the landscape, slow movement on a small segment of the horizon, and how they were completely immersed in the snow, like placing a stocking over the lens of your camera as you took the shots, there may as well be a blizzard between you, deep snow, that makes everything beyond your touch shy and unreachable, for as you move towards it you become sleepy, with the first warmth of hypothermia behind the eyelids and in the stomach, sleep with the landscape that wanders off gaining momentum to deep within itself, sleep with the winter elk in minus twenty and your mind will go wandering away with them, the pain in your toes and fingers has stopped, the skin on your face begins to turn white as it dies, as stunning as a blizzard, it has all become so easy,
CORAL HULL

ELK IN MINUS TWENTY

elk in minus twenty, grazing on the frozen river bed, digging for green like dogs with their forelegs, they turn from me, a world of ice between us, they are part of the snow landscape, if you held a camera and turned 360 degrees taking photos, you would see how much they were part of the landscape, slow movement on a small segment of the horizon, and how they were completely immersed in the snow, like placing a stocking over the lens of your camera as you took the shots, there may as well be a blizzard between you, deep snow, that makes everything beyond your touch shy and unreachable, for as you move towards it you become sleepy, with the first warmth of hypothermia behind the eyelids and in the stomach, sleep with the landscape that wanders off gaining momentum to deep within itself, sleep with the winter elk in minus twenty and your mind will go wandering away with them, the pain in your toes and fingers has stopped, the skin on your face begins to turn white as it dies, as stunning as a blizzard, it has all become so easy,

CORAL HULL

Coral Hull is the author of over thirty-five books of poetry, fiction and photography. She is an animal rights advocate and recently completed a book called Voices from the Dark, with writer Sandy Jeffs exploring mental illness and creativity. She lives in Sydney, Australia.

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