Guest Poet: Jennifer Farley

Responding to yesterday's post about snowy poems, the excellent poet (and good friend of mine) Jennifer Farley reminded me of her poem 'Snow Journeys', once winner of the SouthEastArts poetry competition. I did, of course, know Jennifer's poem, but could sadly find no link to it on the Web for my 'Top 10'. She has kindly agreed to my re-publishing it here - which also makes me wonder if this could be the start of an irregular 'guest poet' slot on A Thing for Poetry. I think perhaps it could...

The poem is published in Jennifer's collection Masks and Feathers (The Palms Studio, 2012).

Snow Journeys

All those journeys we used to make, our sleigh
(or grandfather's black Bentley) speeding
through the hushed and frozen night, that time
we fled S. Petersburg, the air heavy
with chypre and the scent of fur, warm plush
prickling our legs. The pale Empress (or
my grandmother) sat straight-backed. Her rings
smoked topaz fire across the glass, summoning forests
glittering with assassins and the threat of wolves.
Snuggled deep in winter dark, comforted by leather
and the fizz of sherbet on the tongue,
I urged the pace. Our hastening tracks left
echoes of tiny bells, the dogs' breath furling back
across the glinting minarets, the city's glow
(or Market Square lamplit at closing time).
These were the journeys I had to make, across
the table of the world, away
from the ordinariness of lives,
toward the long slow melt and miracles.

(C) Jennifer Farley