Poems by Donny Winter
Good morning! Today’s edition of October Stories are poems by Donny Winter.
The Crooning Crows
by Donny Winter
circle,
caw,
claw,
at this metallic body,
sandblasted raw, baked
beneath a desert sun.
The vultures trail higher
and the ravens gaze in wait
hungry,
hellish,
harbingers
of a hate wrought from their
long memory of our mistakes.
The crooning crows
sing a dirge for what was,
a living world once lush, while I,
rusted,
ragged,
resolute,
seek the foreign comfort
of a passing cloud.
Enclosure
by Donny Winter
The world has spun its way back to March again:
birdsong carries on the uncharacteristically warm wind,
plants pre-maturely peek their sprouts above the rot,
the sun reduces snow mounds into rivers.
The streets are bumper-to-bumper and the sidewalks full:
friends lock elbows as they stroll past
a well-kept enclosure, careful to avoid
the dusty windows of this man-made stockade.
With each SOS that goes unanswered, we sit inside these rooms:
our bones are the gears in clocks
and we delicately press ourselves into
each hand painted cornice, elegant and ornate,
boxed in a museum of our own manic making.
The Monster that Became Me
by Donny Winter
The snow squall calls in whistles past numb ears
while dirty banks rise around planted boots
to form a glacial colosseum.
The frozen window frames a photograph
of home and hearth, family and friends
gathered around a fireplace.
They share kisses at wine glass clinks
then bellow laughs suspended in perpetuity.
Outside, the storm still rages unbeknownst to them,
and the key beneath the doormat was
swallowed by a monster, no entry or egress.
the key beneath the doormat was
swallowed by the monster,
the monster that became me.
Bio
Donny Winter is an LGBTQ+ poet, educator, and activist currently residing in Midland, Michigan. He teaches creative writing at Delta College and composition at Saginaw Valley State University. He’s authored three poem collections: Casting Seeds (2022), Feats of Alchemy (2021), and Carbon Footprint (2020). His poems have appeared in numerous magazines and journals, including Somber Midwest, Awakened Voices, CultureCult Magazine, and Millennium Pulp. For more information, visit www.donnywinter.com.
