Blessing

Snowfall in July, the sun 
in gaps, deaccelerating, here 
and here. The ice shelves
approach day and night.

How well constructed 
is the beloved’s coffin 
to keep out July weather 
before the heavier storm

of dirt and stones, 
flowers, a couple of 
poems about embracing 
the time that’s left. 

We sit in our grief as 
dislodged ice chunks 
flow to the low points 
and fill the hole.

MIKE PUICAN

Mike Puican’s book of poetry Central Air (Northwestern Press) debuted in 2020. He’s had poems in Poetry, Michigan Quarterly Review, and New England Review, among other publications. He won the 2004 Tia Chucha Press Chapbook Contest for 30 Seconds. He teaches poetry to incarcerated men and women at the Federal Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago.