Winter Villanelle: At Twilight

Like a silent movie scene in black and white
The late day stillness deadens any sound
And the frigid landscape glows with ghostly light.

The roaring wind has given up its fight,
Deserting now the blank-faced snowy ground,
So like a silent movie scene in black and white.

Winter’s trees just shudder and hold tight
To their old leaves of autumn, sere and brown,
And the frigid landscape sleeps in ghostly light.

In evening’s dusk a lone coyote might
Disturb this spot where lifelessness abounds,
A silent movie shot in black and white.

A solitary cardinal chirps in flight,
His reedy call mere icicles earthbound
While the frigid landscape shows a silver light.

And in a plodding race with fall of night,
A bundled figure heads toward town
As the silent movie scene of black and white
Brings quiet stirrings into the ghostly light.









Susan Gundlach lives in Evanston, Illinois, and has been teaching and writing for many years. Her poems have appeared most recently in A Light Breakfast, Dark Matter, A Midnight Snack, Lingerpost and in the walkway of the Evanston Public Library—etched in stone, or cement, actually. Her work can also be seen in The Best of Vine Leaves 2012, and some children’s poems are featured in the January 2014 Cricket magazine.



You can see another winter poem of hers in Issue 1.4.