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| Records fell as an April snowstorm blanketed the Upper Midwest. —CHANNEL 3000 |
The shadow I see in the meadow is really a sheep in wolf’s clothing. I go swimming in the small pond but the ice is so thick I have to break it with an ax so I can’t chop the tree branches into firewood. It is so cold in April I choke on clouds of ice. I wrap myself in a buffalo robe for warmth but the snow keeps falling. I wear a large wool hat but the snow keeps falling. The sun is shining but the snow keeps falling. Even the sunshine I feel is eight minutes old. My congressman gives me the cold shoulder. It is hard to believe anything he says. Perhaps I don’t get his attention. If I see a poisonous spider I will crush it with my shoe.
James Bettendorf is a retired math teacher writing in Brooklyn Park, MN. He completed a two-year poetry internship in the Loft Master Track program in 2009 and has published a book of poems swimming in the earth which includes art by his daughter. He is also a contributor to Gatherings, A Forward Poetry Anthology and In the Company of Others. He has had poems published in several journals including Rockhurst Review, Light Quarterly, Star Line, Ottertail Review, Talking Stick, and Free Verse along with several on-line publications.