When Winter Comes -- by Mimitig

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The first snow
Every year I crave the same rhythm

I long to go back to childhood
And skate
And sing

And I find the song
For Sharon

It is the story of my winter
The song is Canada
My childhood is Port Meadow
And Rosedale

I skated into the mist
I had dreams and the world in my hands

Skating into the unknown
The freedom of skating into love

I wore tights under my
Woolworth jeans
So different from Joni
With her Cowgirl jeans

But as I felt the wind
Against my face
It didn’t matter, ever
That I was in my cheap dream

I remembered Canada
And I felt speed in my blades

Nothing could stop me then
Burning with power through the fog
I never felt so alive

Now I go to the rink
Sometimes
It’s not the same

But when the snow and ice
Lash against the window
I am back in childhood

I want to skate
In the wilderness
And sing

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Childhood Memory -- by Zephirine

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I still have them somewhere
those shells collected so carefully
the small round smooth snails
which when wet were every colour
from primrose through daffodil
to egg yolk and orange
and what in the paintbox was called Burnt Sienna
in rock pools brushed by red seaweed
scuttled over by tiny transparent crabs
they glowed
but once at home when dry
they were beige and chalky
dull off-white and scuffed tan
I had spent hours picking them out of the water
and bringing them to where they would look dull..

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Step In Step Out of the Rain --- by Mimitig

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Autumn suddenly shocks
Out of clear blue skies
The weather storms in from the Firth

No gentle sprinklings here
I stand – on the lower cliff
At the Preishach
I can see the weather
Coming straight from the north

The black cloud is the storm-bringer
Fistfuls of rain
Thrown from above

Run, run along the cliff path
Past the bright huts
Past the dolphins, breaching
They haven’t felt the violence
Or maybe do not care

The storm breaks over me
I stop, stand, gaze and wonder
At the dolphins

In their element of water
They seem to laugh
But not at me

Their fun in the waves
Makes me forget the wet, cold sogginess
Of being human

Joyfully, the dolphins play
They seem to know
That behind the black
Is sunlight

I reach the harbour
Look back to wave goodbye
To my friends

Do they see what I see?
Sun breaking through
A rainbow

One end seems rooted on the cliff
The other plunges into dolphin country

Just for a moment
Land and water creatures share the beauty
And the peace that comes after the storm

Smiling but sodden
I run home for a hot shower
Dry clothes
Warmth

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