Embrace
after an Elmwood sculpture by Richard Lawrence
His hands hook her waist
as if pulling her from a flower.
She closes her eyes in the little cave
she finds under his chin.
Let this blizzard bury them together,
fill the footprints they won’t leave,
his eyes, nose and cheeks,
her bronze shoulders and blown back hair,
his kiss sealed to her forehead as he leans back
to lift her heels from the snow,
the small plinth they are balanced on
vanishing beneath their feet.
Mark Czanik’s poems, stories, and artwork have appeared most recently in The Waxed Lemon, Pennine Platform, Dreamcatcher, The Dawntreader, 3AM, Atrium, and The Interpreter’s House. He was born in the sweet borderlands of Herefordshire, and now lives in Bath. The poem ‘Embrace’ first appeared in issue 40 of Wasafiri.