THE GARDEN AT SOLSTICE

   Heart

   purple

as kale ornaments

   among rocks

and cascading juniper.

Flowers all

gone under

   for winter.

Snow and frost

create shadow

where there is no moon.

   Unmoving

through the continuing

   night,

it holds its pulse

   like a secret

while the sun

stands

   still

on the opposite side

of earth.

Morgan Grayce Willow’s poetry has earned fellowships from the Minnesota State Arts Board and the McKnight Foundation. Her chapbooks include Spinnerets, Arpeggio of Appetite, and The Maps are Words. Her collection Interstitial, which includes “The Garden at Solstice,” is forthcoming from Nodin Press in 2009.