made it to Florida
and then I went for a walk.
The frog pond is half-iced over.
I chucked a stick at it—
still thin. On the white side,
the wind twirled a leaf around
like a prepubescent figure skater
who’s given up her childhood
to get here. Of course, the leaf
was wearing its practice costume
of browns, the whole world
offed of spangles as I am
offed of you. Why
mail snow? Just to show
I could keep it cold
in so much heat.
Source: Poetry (May 2006).
Rebecca Hoogs is the author of a chapbook, Grenade (2005) and her poems have appeared in Poetry, AGNI, Crazyhorse, Zyzzyva, The Journal, Poetry Northwest, The Florida Review, and others. She is the recipient of fellowships from the MacDowell Colony (2004) and Artist Trust of Washington State (2005). She is the Director of Education Programs and the curator and host for the Poetry Series for Seattle Arts & Lectures.
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