ANOTHER SEASON
by Taylor Graham

The January leafless oak
that's choked with mistletoe-
what hope it might survive
with us another year?

But this morning the old tree
spoke!  Well no, it stirred
with wings and ruddy breasts-
how many birds!  A nuthatch
and two titmice picking berries
from mistletoe,

and something else too quick
to call, brushing the cold air
in its flight.  The oak stood
leafless full of light.

Art by Calvert Brown
Title: Rain Dancing

Taylor Graham lives in Somerset, California. She is a volunteer search-and-rescue dog handler in the Sierra Nevada.  Her poetry has appeared, or is forthcoming in The Chattahoochee Review, The Iowa Review, The Midwest Quarterly, The New York Quarterly, Poetry International, Poetry Depth Quarterly and others. Her latest collection is Still Life with Wood Smoke (Mt. Aukum Press, 2002).

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