Patricia Hemminger

Going to the Farm in Winter
 
past the stone walled field
 
littered with wild phlox in springtime
 
past the church cemetery
 
and 1820 tavern home
 
past the pheasant farm
 
red cap and mottled wings
 
past the frozen stream
 
and water iced lawn
 
past the hotel house
 
candles in every window
 
past the country store with neon lights
 
red barns broken by age and weather
 
past crows scratching at a frozen carcass
 
deer with coats as thick as sled dogs
 
a cart horse still and stolid in the freezing air
 
 
onions in bins, winter squash
 
dirt caked carrots and celeriac
 
crisp Chinese cabbage
 
turnips and twisted parsnips
 
hour old eggs and homemade cheese
 
talk of gardens in the dead of winter
 
 
a full moon and mist
 
over the frozen lake
 
fine snow gathering
 
a long way home
 
 
 
 
Patricia Hemminger is a science and environmental writer and editor. Her work has appeared in E – The Environmental Magazine, Environmental Health Perspectives and Science and Spirit, among others. She is associate editor of Pollution A-Z published by MacMillan and has one poem, “Portrait of Poets” published in the Summer 2012 issue of Parabola magazine.