In recognition of Poetry Month, and to celebrate and highlight our treasure trove of Orcas Island poets, Orcas Issues is pleased and honored to again offer daily poetry during April.

AFTERNOON, NEW YEARS DAY

— Laurel Rust —

The week’s rainfall
stains the cedar fence
into depth. Still
in pajamas and robe,
I am full
of the old years
like a cask of wine
in a cellar. More
and more, the years
come to me, it seems, rather than I
to them, through darkness,
through oak, through liquid
and sediment,
and I simply
receive them, knowing
the years
will finish me.

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