Stepmother’s-breath
hissing through barren boughs
dispensing discontent,
cold as a witch’s kiss.

Scandalmonger of the fields,
grips ragweed by the forelock
to lay across the line
and beat away the dirt.

Hickory switch, finger wagging
at a giggle of snowflakes
leapfrogging through ochre fields
and playing knock-knock—

upon her parlor door.

©2006, Debbie Ouellet

Debbie Ouellet is an active member of the About Poetry Forum, whose poems have often represented our Forum in the InterBoard Poetry Competition. Her work has been published in The Writers’ Journal, Cicada, Tickled by Thunder, Cricket Magazine, Chirp Magazine, and chickaDEE Magazine. Her poem “Rainy Night Opera” is included in the children’s book, Animals on Parade, published in September 2006 by Owl Books.

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