How many snow flakes fall on this house
with the red roof. A deer comes to graze—
washed in umber, white-tailed, it nuzzles
drift-fixed wands of blackberry, pulls stems
frothed with inch-thick hoarfrost. Icicles bloom
from failing gutters. If you peer close
a woman wanders from room to room,
glaze-eyed, looking for her lost romance.

Fixed diagnoses: hallux rigidus,
spinal stenosis, sifted by a demiurge.
Listen as she washes miniscule dishes,
china small as atoms. After the urge
to leave home wrests loose of the glass
she sits down alone to watch Christmas.