Falter
by Samantha Malay
published in Five South/The Weekly
https://www.fivesouth.net/post/falter-by-samantha-malay

wake from summer’s sleep
to rosehip frost and cold blue skies
shirt cuffs stained with linseed oil
door frame swollen in overnight rain

set aside the forks and spoons
pocket knife
a bar of soap
cardboard box of clothes and towels
sleeping bags and tire chains

touch the stove
and close the curtains
mountain cabin
beyond plow lines

steer around ruts
toward opaque horizon
town for winter again