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A Thumb's Length Landscape

1/25/2015

 
Snow Landscape, in a Glass Globe  - by Jean Valentine

A thumb's-length landscape: Snow, on a hill
in China.  I turn the glass ball over in my hand, 
and watch the snow
blow around the Chinese woman, 
calm at her work,
carrying her heavy yoke
uphill, towards the distant house.
Looking out through the thick glass ball
she would see the lines of my hand,
unearthly winter trees, unmoving, behind the snow...

No more elders.
The Boston snow grays and softens
the streets where you were...
Trees older than you, alive.

The snow is over and the sky is light.
Pale, pale blue distance...
Is there an east? A west? A river?
There, can we live right?

I look back in through the glass.  You,
in China, I can talk to you.
The snow has settled; but it's cold
there, where you are.

What are you carrying?
For the sake of what? through such hard wind
and light.

               -And you look out to me,
and you say, "Only the same as everyone; your breath,
your words, move with mine,
under and over this glass; we who were born
and lived on the living earth."

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    Pauline West

    ​Pauline West's first novel, EVENING’S LAND, is winner of the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation Award and recipient of the Carol Marie Smith Memorial Scholarship for the NOEPE Center of Literary Arts.  

    West's writing has been shortlisted for The International Aeon Award, and featured in International School Leader Magazine, Reddit’s NoSleep channel, The Art Mag and The Sierra Nevada Review.

    Pauline West's books on Goodreads
    Candlemoth: A Holy City Romance Candlemoth: A Holy City Romance
    reviews: 15
    ratings: 27 (avg rating 4.04)

    Evening's Land Evening's Land
    reviews: 20
    ratings: 24 (avg rating 3.46)

    Candlemoth Volume 2: How To Spend It Candlemoth Volume 2: How To Spend It
    reviews: 7
    ratings: 10 (avg rating 4.40)

    Candlemoth Book 3: A Twist of Fate Candlemoth Book 3: A Twist of Fate
    reviews: 3
    ratings: 6 (avg rating 4.17)

    Stalker: A Gothic Thriller Stalker: A Gothic Thriller
    reviews: 3
    ratings: 4 (avg rating 4.25)

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