Early snow...
coming from northern islands,
ice-packed bonito;
since summer I have waited
to hear the fish-monger's call!

Michael McClintock  (topic: winter wind and water)

Snow swirls silently
this cold and bitter night
at the year end--
I long to reach out to you
yet the words will not come. 

Paul  (topic: winter wind and water)

Under the eaves,
an evening wind sculpts
water into ice...
crystalline  needles hang
rigid in the morning light.

an'ya   (topic: winter wind and water)

Scattered and broken--
These stalks of miscanthus
Pummeled by rain;
I turn my heart against
the coldness of winter wind.

Donna  (topic: winter wind and water)

For whom does she call
above the ice-choked river?
A lone bird
breaks the morning silence
beneath a storm-gray sky.

Paul

Unaided by the wind.
Leaves fall...snow falls
This season;
I wait for such gentleness
To touch this life.

Donna

Through melting snow,
the cobblestone path unfolds
a verdant valley
embracing the broken pond
torn between ice and water.

b'oki (Bette)

In the old pot,
Only a few drops of tea
Lingering;
The beginnings of spring birdsong
Vie with shifting snowflakes.

Donna

Silently swaying
atop high barren branches,
a red-winged blackbird
content to ride the cool wind
until her song comes along.

b'oki
 

A lingering journey
in the Pennsylvania mountains...
Roshi returns;
in the meditation room,
one small pine cone.

Sarah   (topic--pine)

Having no interest
in resolving my life's pain,
Ponderosa pines...
towering far above me,
they direct my gaze upward.

Richard  (topic--pine)

A rain drop
Hanging on the pine needles--
So perfect;
Why does this mist remain
Blurring the edges of my life?

Donna   (topic--pine)

Long low branches
of the great pine tree
clad in new snow...
this heavy whiteness
bends them to the ground.

Richard  (topic--pine)

Quite unmoved
by my poetry
an old pine--
its dark shape reaching
into the twilight.

Kit  (topic--pine)

Along the harbor line,
the sea tossed in foaming caps
ceaseless winter wind--
even in this safe harbor
nothing remains untouched.

Paul  (topic--winter wind)

The winter wind
Beats against my window pane.
A rhythm of waiting--
Will the cardinals come to nest again
In this dense and withered hedge?

Sunny  (topic--winter wind)

So lonely,
the cold moan of pines
in the night;
only the stars seem unmoved
by the winter wind.

Kit  (topic--winter wind)

Rendered speechless,
beneath a gray dawn sky
gathered clouds thicken--
they quell the winter wind
and my half-remembered thoughts.

Paul  (topic--winter wind)

Though withered and dry,
the oak leaves cling to their limbs
as if waiting--
fresh snow falls on the path
left unmarred by her footprints.

Paul

In a stand of pines
bent by the weight of snow
this silent dawn--
the sole trace of fleeing deer,
white whirling from the branches.

Paul

Edges curled
on rounded platelets,
ice floes
carried gently down the river
looking like a pond of lotus.

Sarah

From this frosted pane,
the half moon appears shattered
like so many dreams--
they rise and brighten the long night
and disperse upon waking.

Paul

Who can know
This desolation?
In the winter wind
A moth's brittle husk shakes
In the spider web.

Donna

Winter seclusion...
A half day-moon slides
Across the bitter sky;
Who is there to see it--
The lingering icicles?

Donna 

The frost moon--
a chill wind gathers strength
in my loneliness;
will these weak and bitter tears
on my pillow turn to ice?

Hortensia