Cradle the Easter Wind

by L. Ward Abel

When 

the last frost comes to rest 

on survivors, and powder-yellow 

branches wait for the rattles, 

cracks, and smallest of hymns 

foretelling thaw, 

we 

cling to the unverifiable 

in an effort to cradle the Easter wind 

between our fingers, admitting light 

so that objects beyond can be better 

understood. 

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L. Ward Abel’s work has appeared in Rattle, The Reader, The Istanbul Review, The Worcester Review, The Honest Ulsterman, hundreds of others, and he is the author of three full collections and ten chapbooks of poetry, including Jonesing For Byzantium (UKA Press, 2006), American Bruise (Parallel Press, 2012), Little Town gods (Folded Word Press, 2016), A Jerusalem of Ponds (erbacce-Press, 2016), The Rainflock Sings Again (Unsolicited Press, 2019), Floodlit (Beakful, 2019), and The Width of Here (Silver Bow, 2021). Abel resides in rural Georgia.