Dawn Potter

Maine

heres what its like

you wait all day for ringo & eric to show up with their beater truck to

plow you out so you can go get that pregnancy stick for the baby you

hope is swelling only in your fears but

the snow is snowing like theres a snow factory grinding out

a million pounds of snow an hour & under the drifts the

car looks like two hippos asleep in a white

tent & jeff the guy who may or may not have knocked you up

is clanking around in the woodshed supposedly getting more wood

for the stove but probably getting stoned

& on the radio the tinny voice of weatherman jack advises

hold your horses folks this is shaping up to be a big one & every

time snow slides off the metal roof the old dog

wakes up with a snort & starts barking & the baby you may or may

not be growing gives a lurch that is definitely not real but could also

be an omen & all around the cabin the fir

trees the white pines the tamaracks loom like messages from god

you should of learned something by now say the god trees we gave

you every chance & the snow keeps snowing

& you hear a fat squirrel chewing up fiberglass inside a wall &

your heart skips in your chest just a little skip like the way

a baby lets out a tiny cry while its still asleep

the way a baby might cry if it was real if you was its mother tucking

it into a basket tucking in the blanket all around slinging

the basket over your arm then the two of you

taking your chance

Dawn Potter is the author or editor of ten books of prose and poetry—most recently the poetry collection Calendar. A finalist for the National Poetry Series, she has also won a Maine Literary Award for nonfiction and has received grants and fellowships from the Elizabeth George Foundation, the Writer's Center, and the Maine Arts Commission. Her poems and essays have appeared in the Beloit Poetry Journal, the Sewanee Review, the Threepenny Review, the Times Literary Supplement, and many other journals. After teaching at the Frost Place for more than a decade, she now leads poetry programs at Monson Arts. She lives in Portland, Maine. Facebook. Instagram. Bluesky.