Surviving Winter by Angie Minkin | Art by Derek Knierim

Surviving Winter

By Angie Minkin
Art by Derek Knierim
Published Issue 110, February 2023

Hungry time, knife-edge

of grief. Listen

to the ice. Surround night

with candles and eat pomegranates,

rubies enough to recall beauty.

Recite poetry.

Remember you have lived

through long nights before.

Touch the earth,

it throbs. Even in the longest dark,

see how fire calls back sun.

In good darkness, stars are especially beautiful.

Hold the seeds, work

in the snowy

wasteland. We are tiny

sparks of life. 

Note: this is a collage/erasure poem from The New York Times, 12/20/20,
“How We Survive Winter” by Elizabeth Dias

Angie Minkin is an award-winning San Francisco-based poet who stands on her head for inspiration. Angie has volunteered as a poetry editor for Vistas & Byways Literary Review. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Lips Poetry Magazine, Loch Raven Review, The MacGuffin, Rattle, The Poeming Pigeon, Stirring: A Literary Collection, The Unbroken Journal and several others. She is a coauthor of Dreams and Blessings: Six Visionary Poets, published in 2020 by Blue Light Press. Her work has been included in Fog and Light, San Francisco through the Eyes of the Poets Who Live Here and Pandemic Puzzle Poems, also published by Blue Light Press. Her chapbook, Balm for the Living, will be published in 2023 by Finishing Line Press. When not writing, she practices yoga, takes dance classes and travels to Oaxaca, Mexico, whenever possible. Learn more on her website.

Derek Knierim is a concept artist based in the Denver area. He makes comic books, and loves to draw. He wants to work in the video game / movie industry creating more characters and worlds. See more of his work on his site and on Instagram.

This is Angie’s debut Birdy piece. Keep your eyes peeled for more of her work in the future. Check out Derek’s last Birdy install,  MF4, or head to our Explore section to see more of his work.