Winter Earthworks

I am full this afternoon–the treetops

lit with orange and purple, the shadows blue

and long–sledding on the earthworks

at Fort C.F. Smith. What is left of the Civil War

is hidden under the snow. The kids do not know.

Soon, they are wet and cold, pants dark and steamy,

bodies sliding down into the hollow. They are happy.

There are other boys here , and they take sides

against them. First, who has the best sled.

Then, who has the longest run, who can hit the jump.

One boy looks at me as we begin the trudge

back to the car. He says, I do not like the Earth,

and I tell him, either do I.

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