Winter Browse
In twin-tracks the tender
bark’s peeled away, stripped
bottom-to-top, south-to-north
exposing a weathered skin
beneath the black willow, marked
sentinel
body
expressed as moose, browsing
while the crone snow whorls
through the inky forest
her rough, white fingers
bending the boughs with
teeth
of unwrapped sunlight
and the willow bark calf
who turns within
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