THE MORNING IS QUIET

As white is soft, as touch

is stone worn smooth

As love is wordless

as wind-blown pines

As generosity leans 

convex and concave

As the world rewards us

for playing along

Such quiet, this scent

of creaking hardwood

This language we almost

remember

This white blow of snow

this ghost of clarity.

Linda Back McKay is a Minneapolis poet, writer and teaching artist. Her work has appeared in Great River Review, Water~Stone, and elsewhere. Her poetry collections are, Ride That Full Tilt Boogie (2001 North Star Press) and The Cockeyed Precision of Time (2007 White Space Press).