Winter into Spring

A reflection on the seasons, courtesy of poems by Spoon Jackson and Scott Nolan.

“Blue Mountain Foxes” by Spoon Jackson.

Untitled (Winter Reflection)
by Spoon Jackson

I have a Sara whose job it is to tend to the redwoods in the California forest hugging them checking their hearts. Keeping them company on snowy winter nights while the owl who lives in the arms and embrace of the redwood no longer hides when she sees Sara coming to say hi and share space and warmth. You look long enough at trees you will see them and branches and leaves dance. You will hear the matriarch voice soothing the younger trees and making a place inside for the squirrels to sleep winter away in the warmth of her belly.

Winter
by Scott Nolan

The sounds of children 
playing hockey 
echo across the river 
near the off-leash dog park. 
Air thick with birch smoke
from a backyard fire. 
Those last few houses
pressing the deadline, 
keeping up their Christmas lights
well past their broken 
New Year’s resolutions.  

We'll embrace this forgotten landscape, 
those of us for whom winter is a middle name,
having learned to appreciate the silence 
several feet of snow will bring.

I'll walk the Truro Creek 
through the culvert 
beneath Portage Avenue,
Bruce Park, past the war memorial, 
under the little red wooden foot bridge
across the frozen Assiniboine, 
leaving fresh tracks, 
stopping only at Devil’s Ditch 
to say a little prayer.

Photograph by Scott Nolan.

SPRING FEVER
by Spoon Jackson

I sat in my spot
In front of the education building
And prepared a banquet of food
For my bird friends

I feed them cookies, sunflower seeds
Bread, peanut butter and love, 
Late spring

And soon I'll see their young ones
Black birds, wrens, sparrows, magpies
And crows

But, for now they move
Like the wind
Gathering up the food
To take back to their
Wide mouthed young

Young happy to see a parent
But, ecstatic
For their first taste
Of peanut butter

Spoon Jackson is a poet, writer, and artist from Barstow, California. He was sentenced to Life Without Possibility of Parole when he was twenty years old. You can keep up with his artist collective Rabbits of Realness by subscribing to this Substack. His poetry is collected in his book Longer Ago.

Scott Nolan is a songwriter, poet, and multi-instrumentalist from Winnipeg, Manitoba Treaty One territory. Keep up with Scott on his website and his Instagram. His poetry is collected in his book Moon Was a Feather.