this is, as all poems are, 
a confession of love. i stumbled
upon you, first in your hair.
the snow laying down. your 
wife, of course, made of snow.
her fingers planting themselves
in my poem. oh poet who loves
poet who loves poet. i love
a poet too. the tragedy 
of winter. 
you would have liked
my town & the field where 
my brother & i stumbled 
in green snowsuits to guess
the owners of paw prints. the dog
we didn't have. the wood chopping
itself on the porch. me
chopping myself on the porch.
you could
have easily been my father.
he also loves you too, as do
all men who know their
own bodies too well. who are
cold. i have
to admit that i've been telling
everyone that i hate you.
don't laugh, yes, yes
of course you must laugh,
this is the only response 
to fear of falling too deep
into the mouth of another. 
mending the well in our
chest. your wife there. don't
we all have wives who die too
early & sons who bury themselves?
wait for earth to thaw. back
to your hair. i find the white, again.
i'll buy you coffee & 
show you the best yams & sweet
onions at the market.
my mother's burlap bags.
sell the farm. sell the farm but
first fill your pockets 
with soil. tell me, will 
we end in fire or ice? 
tell me will you write
the earth above both
of our graves. is it frozen? 
i hope they don't bury me. 
i hope they fill their pockets
with the ash.
when night comes i'll show
you the creek. she would
have liked it there, yes
she would have. this is
where i admit that throughout
my life i have repeated
the phrase "& miles
to go before i sleep" as
a refrain for feeling myself
drifting off, not to sleep
but drifting off of the earth
the way the bitter-cold snow
scatters from a gust of wind.
this is where
i tell you that i know
your son, your son
burying himself. he's in
the backyard between our 
two pine trees. don't
cut them down. not yet. 
keep the trees dark & deep & lovely.
oh read me another poem. 
teach me winter. i love
a poet i love a poet 
i love a poet too.

**Robert Frost was known to have troubled family connections 
His first son died from Chloera complications &
His second died by suicide. His youngest daughter spent
the majority of her life in a mental hospital & the older died
from complications of child birth. His wife died 20 years before
him of breast cancer**