a place

i live in a place where snowflakes fall softly
gracing the mountains with white brilliance
the streets with icy sheets
and the homes with wet blankets.
they fall in the cracks of splintering fences
and intermingle with heaps of trash.
they glide over steep dirt paths, rocky ravines
crumbling sidewalks
and they gather.

i live in a place where water buckets swing back and forth
their carrier's arms not yet heavy with sloshing liquid
the neighborhood well a normal necessity, a daily task.

i live in a place nomadic at heart
skeletal frames propped up, draped with fabric
called home. For a while, for a time, for a season
stoves warm in the middle, billowing chimneys adding to the clouds.

i live in a place marked by struggle
harsh in its taking of life, moments, growth
daily life a triumph of its own.

i live in a place of blue sky
a countryside spoken of with reverence
and pollution that chokes them both.

i live in a place where each rising and setting sun
brings wrestling, rejoicing, grieving, learning, laughing, grasping
loving.

i live in a place where i know nothing at all
and it's beautiful.