Paul Ilechko

True Crime Hidden by a Blizzard

Let’s talk about boundaries     let’s talk about
bruising     and how they are connected
the emergence of pain when limits are ignored
we all know better than to fall asleep in the snow
no matter how tempting it might seem when
trudging wearily through drifts     the idea of
the blood slowing as it thickens     like a plot
that runs out of steam when the hero flounders
unable to solve a crime or steal the heart
of a possible beloved    and yes     this is not
literature     where plot relinquishes the pole
position to the mystery of epiphany     where
home is not a place but a cadence     where
the state is not a country but a thin red line
that ripples through the vein of language
where dancing has no need of shoes     and rhythm
is silent     and the multitudes outside watch
closely this world illuminated     and then walk
home again     hardly seeing the snow that swirls
around them in their inarticulate laughter.

Paul Ilechko is a British American poet and occasional songwriter who lives with his partner in Lambertville, NJ. His work has appeared in many journals, including The Bennington Review, The Night Heron Barks, Lily Poetry Review, Stirring, and Pithead Chapel. He has also published several chapbooks.