Six ways of thaw

By Norma Farber, Linen laid to bleach: cloths of ice snag and ravel on the river-turf. 2. Sun weighs so heavy, geometric white islands sink like Atlantis. 3. A fleet of barges parades frost-white downriver. Which ones reach the sea? 4. Rafts of marble float from quarries upstream where stone lies buoyant as ice. 5. Broken illusions, shards of ice sink downriver to forget themselves 6. Convoys of white sails: a deliverate navy due bound for April.

April 21, 1980

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