"WINTER IS A PRECONDITION..."

I'm a lucky recipient of some custom-made holiday cards from poets and artists -- thank you Sharon Louden, Lisa Solomon, Stella Lai, Mark Lamoreaux...And Sheila Murphy who delights with this poem for the new year:

On the Threshold of the Year 2007

Any lifetime is enormous in symphonic breeze. Plurality, a learned reprise, draws love from dream of present tense spectacular, where winter is a precondition for the needed healing. Even a clipped flower that survives on empathy imposes blossom fromm a crystal vase. The laureate assigned to tether faith may improvise new midnight at the moment ashes on the willing forehead fade.

As distant soldiers bypass life support, a close-up of our breathing