‘Blood In Winter’ – 1st Place Winner of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies Quarterly Membership Contest

Posted byJennifer PatinoPosted inpoetryTags:, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hello everyone! I would like to share my poem ‘Blood in Winter’ with you all today. It has been published in this month’s Strophes newsletter of the NFSPS. I hope you are keeping warm if it’s as cold as it is here where you are.

Blood in Winter

Entwined branches of
birches in the distance
were guardians of
the white fields

Hands like paper
or bark,   scented
of earth and coffee,
covered your eyes to hide

them from cherry circles
on fresh snow, crimson
droplets on pure linoleum,
from a world too blurry

through glasses not your
own     So young to have
to wear such thick glasses, back
when we drank from strawberry jam jars,

our knees trembling like jelly
as the dogs ran to the treeline
and a faded line of defense
was forever lost to a blizzard

Published by Jennifer Patino

Poet in Michigan.

36 thoughts on “‘Blood In Winter’ – 1st Place Winner of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies Quarterly Membership Contest”

    1. Thanks so much, Tre! It’s interesting to me that I wrote it living in Las Vegas thinking about a winter memory from up here in Michigan, & now I live here again & some of this imagery is right in front of me now with how the weather is up here today.

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  15. Congratulations! Absolutely no wonder this was selected for that honor. 💜 A Great Lakes winter, like a violent memory, never loses its hold on a person. A needed balm and a counterbalance. Which is why I’ve struggled so much with this one, but at least we finally have a little snow falling now!

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    1. Thank you! This cold up here is too cold even for me. I think my relationship with winter is changing. I enjoy watching it but I’m not loving the joint pain! Vegas winters were a reprieve. I had more energy due to the lack of the heat pain. Now I prefer the hibernating. The harshness teaches me. There is a lot of snow falling today & thankfully the temps are climbing up to the 20s. 😊 I wouldn’t trade this though. Soon it will change again & I really feel having these cycles has been better for me even if I can’t control the progression & flare-ups that accompany chronic illness. Fear of having seizures kept me in a lot last year, so I hope to work through that. I did so well when we first got here but when I started having them a lot again I was afraid to go on my walks by myself. I have to take more advantage of warmer weather now or I’ll get too stir crazy. So I’m learning the new climate & figuring out what will work best for me. It’s been inspiring my writing so that is also good. Ok, I’ll stop rambling now. 😊 Stay warm! 🩵🩵

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      1. It really has been ridiculous; just taking the trash bins out in -20 will ruin me for the rest of the day. But I’m pretty excited for those 20s myself. Keep cozy, and enjoy the thaw for as long as it lasts! There will be snowdrops soon. 🤍🌱

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