Nate Hirschtick
Brotherhood of Snowmen
I remember my snow it was mine just cause
of the red in it we were kids afraid how / gentle
a snowflake falls and rests on a snowflake I once heard they might each be unique
we called them all snow / feeling my blood
dripping it flowed down my face I paused my heart
painted a portrait in the snow / it said no to us
or it said no to me when W tried to break ice
with my nose he mistook what he was holding for something gentle / laughing
in it choking and pushing S into a bank how brothers play
together / we spread it
in the house on boots or in edges of gloves where sleeves met wrists
leaving a cool red ring of numbed skin / ice scrapes
ice in my dreams I sweep a shard across the surface of a winter lake the sound
is something we would never hear / I left my blood behind
who needed it when we lived and slept in it we swam like summer
through snow
I remember you light snowfall
the way we laid
in it we danced completely
still in the black and white
hard pavement
was our worst enemy I still feel
my purple knees
my fingers melted
on my palms I swallowed
my throat my tongue
went with it
I didn’t know
what to do with my hands so
I gave them to you
your breath smoking
in the air a cool
reminder
that our bodies
are bodies
My Earth in Midwinter
I’ve clipped once so far. It’s telling
how little it means to see
the plant on my windowsill
dying and say oh well, it had its day in the sun
and it was gorgeous, breathtaking, green
as life, and take the plant with hands that have deprived
of water and left sun-empty to bring
to the trash, saving the pretty pot and feeling
nothing. I’m in the small season
of my life when I light my bedside
candle and watch the yellowing
flame brush my empty bottle of wine.
Nate Hirschtick studies English and computer science at Santa Clara University. You can read his most recent work in Trampset, upcoming issues of Beyond Words, and elsewhere.
