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Promises Made

Edward Baranosky

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And with black ice, hidden by the snow.
–The Book of Job, 6; 16

1
and all winter long,
the premonition of lost words
slips between us,
into the snow and black-magic wings’
February confluence of crows

2
the February thaw smacks
of indigestion, and an acid reflux
restricting the movement
of the dubious knowledge gleaned
from esoteric diviners

3
only the snowbirds sing
where early darkness stills us
just before evening
the narrow middle of an hourglass,
between a wolf and a dog.

4
…behold the ant.
consider her ways and be
wise…
regenerates into
littoral coastal shadows
pulsing in the tidal undertow.

5
in the promises made,
not something expected,
but forsaken–
and of the sudden sight of a ship,
the keel tacking close to the wind

6
the coastal fog
folds over the snow drifts,
with a hint of haze
above the thundering breakers–
the cold becoming sharper

7
we walk sideways now,
instinctive on hard black ice
listening intently to intuition–
to the resonance of the trees
swaying in the late winter sun

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Edward Baranosky‘s acrylic of a crow.

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Edward Baranosky has painted seascapes since he was seven years old. His focus on marine-scapes, draws him back to visit his native home in the American east coast, for inspiration from the North Atlantic. His work emphasizes the present – in the ever-changing moments of water. As a poet-artist he crosses the channels and pathways between the visual and the textual. He continues to exhibit in the United States and Canada. Baranosky owns a small press EAB Publishing, for poetry chapbooks and related material. He currently lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

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