bands of shimmering
chills bound tightly
to shivering flesh
each new disturbance
sending fresh chills
dancing to the rhythm
of chattering teeth

between illness and
power shortages
while drowning in
holiday tears
the cold has become
psychosomatically
entwined with this
depressive solitude

stabbing playfully
these frozen daggers
scrape and follow
the curve of the spine
inciting a sacrament
of frosty utterances
for sacrificial fuel
to feed the flames
of festive fecundity

it was bad enough
being sick and tired
of being sickly and
sleepily uninspired
but autonomous snowman
in a magical hat
was not clearly listed
in the job description

bound to frigidity
draped in robes of
freshly fallen flakes
a goosepimpled feast
of fleshy fraility
withering and weeping
half frozen tears