Winter's Rush, by Taunja Thomson

Small Rebus, by Robert Rauschenberg (USA), 1956.

Winter’s Rush

The road waxed cerulean     
stood divided in half--
it began with wild horses
bucking their bounds    gymnasts 
pirouetting between bars
ricocheting between mat and sky
hurtling themselves into the clean black
of space
              their backs straight as summer 
              scepters 

Later the road became a path
               waned dusky slate
its pockmarks filled with splashes of grey 
burbling like exhausted lava
littered with postage stamps 
from unwanted letters
the same dog licking her wounds
every mile
patina’d poppies 
              their heads on pavement
              listening for winter’s rush.

Taunja Thomson
​
This poem was written for the 20 Poem Challenge.

Taunja Thomson: "My poetry has most recently appeared in Anti-Heroin Chic and will be featured in the September 2016 issue of Halcyon Days.  Two of my poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Award:  “Seahorse and Moon” in 2005 and “I Walked Out in January” in 2016.  I have co-authored a chapbook of ekphrastic poetry which has recently been accepted for publication and have a writer’s page at https://www.facebook.com/TaunjaThomsonWriter"