It seems that winter is still here, at least in the Chicagoland area, so why not read a winter-themed poem? Yes, Wednesday is here again, so it’s time for us to feature a new poem on the blog. Each week, we pick a new poem from Poetry Daily, an awesome site packed with poems, to show to you, our readers. This week we’re featuring What I Wanted by Tracey Herd.
According to her bio, Tracey Herd is a Scottish poet who has published two previous collections of her work, including No Hiding Place (1996), which was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, and Dead Redhead (2001), which was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. She is currently working as a Royal Literary Fund Lector at Dundee University and participating in their Bridge Project.
What I Wanted by Tracey Herd
was such a plump, bountiful
landscape of snow, more
than I’d ever dared wish for.
That was back when we had
proper winters, long ago,
when lawns and driveways
vanished: there were
no boundaries. Fences, walls,
gardens and homes dropped off
the edge of the world.
There was a muffled
silence each night when
darkness married with snow
to wake me from dreams
that began and ended
with the snow. I was hidden
from view behind a tree
whose branches were
perilously bent and laden
with snow, watching
a dark figure disappear;
then I would slip out fearlessly,
sure-footed and fleet,
with my magnifying glass
and pocket torch to follow
the tracks that led off as far
as a child’s eye could see,
and then a little further.
I hope you enjoyed this week’s poem! For more posts like this one, click here.
— Jet Fuel Blog Editor, Mary Egan
