Hunger of Wanting
By KB Ballentine
Silence widens, snow pausing
like an archer, breath suspended,
as a stag grazes into the meadow.
Numb, the stars witness all.
In this Moon after Yule twilight,
flakes drift into crevices, downy piles
soft as cat fur as they first cover my feet
then gather faster, stalking the darkness
with feather-light.
I peer into shadows for you, hesitate
like a wolf surprising scent, snow
muffling any cries.
KB Ballentine’s sixth collection, The Light Tears Loose, appeared last summer with Blue Light Press. Published in Crab Orchard Review and Haight-Ashbury Literary Journal, among others. Her work also appears in anthologies including In Plein Air (2017) and Carrying the Branch: Poets in Search of Peace (2017). Learn more at www.kbballentine.com.