Marty Steyer

Marty Steyer lives in the Seattle area. His poems have recently appeared in Measure, Rotary Dial, and DASH. Marty was the winner of the 2014 Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award.

Lost Love Poem

— To Patty

Maybe it's sheltering today under
a blizzard of paid bills and bank receipts,
or maybe it flew south. Do you wonder,
dear, why old age (a murder of crows) greets
us with cawing? We've faced its raw music
lightheartedly, scattering our last crumbs
among mourning doves, which, just in the nick
of time, pecked them before it snowed. Numb is
indeed what our paired hearts must hope to be
to keep pounding through another season
of teeth-chattering cold. Calamity
has not yet touched us, love, which is reason
enough for good cheer and celebration.
The snow flowers like a white carnation.