SEVEN REFLECTIONS ON ICE
Icebreakers are ships plying polar seas
but they are also opening conversation
gambits.
Cracks in lake ice are rarely wise cracks.
Wisecracks seldom break conversational
ice.
It is not usually wise to play with fire.
Ice too may be hazardous if unreliably
thin.
Some ideas may be called breakthroughs.
So may unexpected descents through lake
ice.
Stares from some may be cold icy glares.
Stairs may also be glare ice. Please tread
lightly.
Jack Frost writes ice on window panes.
Robert Frost writes of pain in fire and
ice.
To kill is to ice, in some old noir stories.
But icing is also the finishing touch on a
cake.
Doug Westendorp, 2018
THERE IS NO CORNER
There is no corner
Around which
There is no pain.
There is no pain
Within which
There is no gift.
There is no gift
Without which
There is no love.
There is no love
Within which
There is no grace.
There is no grace
Around which
There is no peace.
There is no peace
Without which
There is no light.
There is no light
Within which
There is no life.
There is no life
Around which
There is no corner.
Doug Westendorp, 2018