Poetry Contest
International Poetry Competition
Grand Prize Winner: 2008
Winter Milk
by Jamie Morewood Anderson
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Relax!
Home Pond
Now it is morning,
dawn begins to hem the day, the meadow
and brindled grass take the light.
There is something so beautiful about the window,
the loose silhouette behind the rinse of glass,
the liquid shadow of feline so angular and illustrated
its clarity could break the heart.
The moment she sees him,
panther-
the dun-
I know precisely
how this bovine’s body is composed,
withers and hoof, the flesh of udder,
her skin so alive against mine.
But he is a mystery, an indescribable movement
of muscle and grace.
For the cat I have gathered winter milk,
foamy and sparkle-
heavy cream so lovely in the pail.
He watches me in backlit darkness,
body crouched, ears flat, tailed curled and tense,
the hunt abandoned with my soft footfall at the door.
His purr and sputtering breath, the smooth push
of paw at my soft parts is a fellowship of elements,
anchor and rhythm, shank bone and fur.
He rises in his lion-
laps my white offering
from the hollows of upturned palm.
I offer my fingers to his remarkable territory
of spine and tail
as bright reaches of sunrise gather us in.
I trim the lantern;
the cat threads himself around me like an epiphany.
How fragile we are in the glorious light.