Daggers of Ice

A cascade, a crescendo
a waterfall
a torrent
daggers of ice,
hanging from the rusty
fire escape, menacing, hanging
frozen fury, captured, preserved
on the metal rails, the black paint
peeling under the stilettos
not quite vertical lines, frozen motion
yearning for the ground
angles from the wind, the storm
sound too frozen, in the drip, drip,
staccato in the melting,
of the daggers of ice

January 30, 2008
from a memory, a photograph long lost
of the old fire escape at the rear of
Thompson Hall, UNH, Durham,
removed long ago