The lowest point found me
shivering in a filthy kitchen
The second day of January

I'd walked away from my old life
a lover, a home, a decade of meaning
all stripped and left upstream

The blue mind and splintered heart
of a thousand Christmas drinks
conspired behind my leaky eyes

No friends around, no work in front of me
The year loomed huge and empty
a vast and frozen lake of days

For the first time, I considered giving up
Wondering how it would feel
to walk this body backwards

Close my eyes in the scarlet water
slip into the warm and fuzzy nothing
I was broke and I was broken

But then… my starving eyes were caught
by the shifting of mysterious blue light
and snow drifting high outside the window

I donned a coat, loped through the doorway
touched the powdery white with gloved hands
those dense and sticky flakes, a tactile consistency

I felt compelled, by something deep within
to build an igloo in the garden
and I got to snow-brick making

Time passed and the day began to darken
my frosty folly was taking shape
I lit a candle on a sculpted shelf inside

It felt so warming to accomplish something
This unique and special structure existed now
albeit fleeting and temporary

Building that igloo honestly saved me
with purpose and a chance for creativity
that most precarious day, one lost January…
 

[2023]