Layers

Winter is my least favorite season, not because I don’t love white snow drifts and crystal mornings, or tracing intricate patterns on my window panes, or watching snowflakes gather and unify in silent submission, each one different, each one at peace.

No, it is adding layers to keep out the cold that weigh heavy on this thin frame that rob me of strength and energy, reminding me of full days and late nights and warm cups of hot cocoa and the sound of corn popping on the kitchen stove. I didn’t mind layers when burdens belonged to someone else.

I battle with mice as they ravage my food source, ripping into my hard-earned income, add another layer to my list of responsibility, and as I seek to rid them of entry, I know, they too are trying to survive the cold.

Even as I type out these words I shed a layer or two, reminded once again to whom I belong, and I am at peace. This too is another reason I keep writing.

Temperatures drop
And the night sky is blackened
Stars shine the brighter

Linking to dversepoets.com Monday haibun. One to three paragraphs of prose followed by a haiku. The subject is winter.

I am not far from New York. We were fortunate also not to get the deep snow.

I am in the middle of a mouse war and so far they are winning. I gave them some credence here but I have no mercy left.

I wrote this as a 6-sentence story (excluding the haiku), a form that is teaching me to be succinct, avoid tangents and superfluous words.

My thanks to Frank Hubeny for introducing me to this form of writing.