Ptarmigan

By: Ronald J. Hansford

                                        I embrace now

                                        certainties of winter

                                        a snowflake cell.

                                        I purge from my plumage

                                        the heresy of colour.

                                        In the hermitage

                                        of my snow-burrow

                                        small seeds sustain me.

                                        I deny excess of summer.

                                        A cleansed earth

                                        feeds its worshippers

                                        ice-bear, frost-fox, snow owl.

                                        Flying into the blizzard

                                        I become pure light.

 (The Ptarmigan is a member of the grouse family which adopts white feathers during the winter snows, shedding its brown summer plumage.)

Ron Hansford's latest collection is Flying into the Blizzard (Shaftesbury: Brimstone Press, 2009) ISBN 978-1-906385-10-1, where the poet explores issues of race, class, generation, nationality, and the visionary experience.

This is available for £5.50, plus 50p for postage and packing, via the e-mail link for this website.