‘Cold Surely Takes the Wood’ long hauled hard split stacked compactly under the old tarp arm loads parcelled out unexpected gifts thaw in the veranda melt snow bake bread fire our lives                                                                      Tara Wohlberg italicized quotations are taken from the diaries of my grandmother Leitta May Wohlberg (1905-1998) excerpted from chapbook of the same title published by Alfred Gustav Press, Series Ten Spring 2013

In 1621 Mr. Burton said… stars cannot influence reason so don’t ask me what my sign is, water or air     a Libra who cares if there is no alignment are there are no lucky stars no twinkling worth a wish or a thwack of Orion’s belt no sip of heaven from even a Little Dipper? if stars are nothing but a dying luminous ball of plasma that gravity gives life to – who is in charge of celestial dreams? Tara Wohlberg published in Quills, Volume IX, 2013

spruceness is a symptom of lovers fir trees spruce themselves up lime dipped tips ripen gradually stretch into dark, mature needles all that green green, seen so deeply meadow grass stands at attention, teasing you Nature’s green apple balsamic scent sealed in cedar’s cleanliness aphrodisiac of the ages, freshen our seeking limbs, ease the bondage of daily toil while the expectant soil warms beneath lovers embraced in their own green green emerald of contentment Tara Wohlberg published in Quills, Volume IX, 2013