December 31: Last day

Cleaning the house.

The year’s last sunlight

out the back door.

December 30: Arctic story

Story with polar bears.

Halo around the moon

beautiful, chilling. 

December 29: Transition

Boxing up Christmas.

The old cat

sleeps through it all.

December 28: Frigid

Below zero:

finishing off the cookies,

watching cooking shows.

December 27: Fresh snow

Wind chill below zero.

On the snow-covered lawn

tracks of one squirrel. 

December 26: Driving home

just ten degrees 

miles and miles of snowy fields

only one crow flying

December 25: Watching starlings in a snowstorm

Christmas morning.

Starling on a windowsill

eating windblown snow.

December 24: Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve, after dark.

First glimpse of the moon

we’ve had in days.

December 23: Musée National de Beaux-Arts

Musée de beaux-arts—

watching a single crow

fly through blowing snow.

December 22: Feeder watch

Snow begins to fall.

As many juncos as flakes

under the feeders. 

December 21: Solstice

wren on the suet

all the Christmas lights plugged in

Winter Solstice

December 20: Three crows

Three crows perched low

waiting for whatever

is thrown from the mouse traps.

December 19: Long shadows

Nearing the Solstice

we cast long shadows

across the fresh snow.

December 18: Upriver

Snow falling fast

I can barely make out

two ducks flying upriver

December 17: Gardens Aglow

Trees strung with Christmas lights

illuminating in snow

the small tracks of voles.

December 16: Sea smoke

Hidden by sea smoke

long conversations

of long-tailed ducks

Rockland Breakwater this morning

December 15: Squirrels

Holiday season—

one leafless tree decked

with five fat squirrels. 

December 14: Deer in the woods

A week before Solstice.

Shadows of deer

moving among bare trees.

December 13: Election

While the Solstice is about a week away, sunset this afternoon is a tiny bit later than yesterday. Our turn toward the light has already begun.

Election results.

One minute more of daylight,

one less of darkness.

December 12: Bridge

Early morning dream:

bridge across Penobscot Bay.

Sky white now with snow.

December 11: Cemetery

Village cemetery 

where my grandmother’s buried

covered with snow.

December 10: After the storm

Echoes of last night’s storm—

laden branches letting loose

small clouds of snow.

December 9: Snowstorm

Shadow government.

Three crows flying

in a city snowstorm.

December 8: If wishes

Diversionary tactics. 

Trying to wish gulls

into Snowy Owls.

December 7: Orientation

Home renovation.

Being able to find

the Big Dipper.

December 6: Host

After the rain stops

white-winged host of gulls

descending on the lawns

December 5: Renovation

Bathroom renovation
The spiders have all moved
to different corners.

December 4: Full Moon

Setting full moon—

bedroom window lit up

as if it were morning. 

December 3: Frost Moon

Making our way home

from one view of the full moon

to the next.

December 2: Complicit

The 2017 Word of the Year, according to Dictionary.com, is “complicit.” 

Complicit: 

hands perfumed with balsam

from selling Christmas trees.

December 1: Moon

full moon rising

over a neighbor’s house—

another lit window