reviving february

in dead january

on michigan highway

you hold my splitting ends

tight to my frozen neck

and you bring my chin

up and brush

your freckled mouth

to mine

you wrap me

in the golden light falling

from your hair

in reviving february

on california trail

you walk five

feet ahead

six feet

ahead

seven feet ahead

and i think how pretty

my hair must be in this pacific

north wind how pretty my mouth

kissing the sea how pretty my eyes

hiding in the gray

© Julie Bolitho. “reviving february,” Poem. The Offbeat: With Abandon. Michigan State University Press: Vol. 8 (Spring 2008), p. 34.