It isn’t how the low winter sun etches
each pebble in a collar of shadow, each
bearing witness, stone for stone,
to the fierce demand of its light.
Or how a crow big as a flag
grips the stripped tree and caws in sets of five,
the sprockets of its tail feathers
crescents of absence against the sky.
Or how she turns, laughing,
the sun sweeping her face like a searchlight,
leaving it in shade. It’s less than that.
The return to a house made strange. Her wet boots
where he never leaves his, her coat on his hook.
The coffee she makes without asking.
Joel F. Johnson’s first book, Where Inches Seem Miles, was published by Antrim House in 2013. In 2014, Kirkus Reviews selected it as one of the best books of the year in the Indie category. "My website, joelfjohnson.com, includes a few videos where I've attempted to combine a reading with appropriate images."