And, again at dusk, I find the madwoman

– Brigit Pegeen Kelly

Come in. Sit. Take off your coat,

scarf, the hard-soled boots you wore

through the deepest drifts. It’s winter.

Dark and long. Clouds descend,

swirl your body, black fog infects

the creed you believed was yours

and is no more. You go on until

there are no signs, the track arcs

in circles, ice sheers the hills.

Imagine spring. It’s coming.

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HARI B PARISI’s (formerly Hari Bhajan Khalsa) poems have been published in numerous journals and are forthcoming in Thuya Poetry Review, The Blood Pudding and The Moving Force Journal. She is the author of three volumes of poetry, most recently, She Speaks to the Birds at Night While They Sleep, winner of the 2020 Tebot Bach Clockwise Chapbook Contest. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband. Website: https://haribpoet.com/