As the Northern Hemisphere settles into another long, cold winter, poet Violeta Garcia-Mendoza offers readers an appropriate piece about winter itself, and the gloom that so often seeps into the spirit with the frigid climate. “Seasonal Affective Disorder” is a quiet poem, quiet like wintertime, and it’s also rife with beautiful and melancholy imagery—a moment of stillness, waiting for the rejuvenation of spring.
Seasonal Affective Disorder
What does winter love more than days that contract
like water corrugating into ice?
More than the claustrophobic kiss of gray
drop-ceiling skies?
It loves a wind howl, the shard-sharp catch of breath–
and then, its wraith– a ghost parade of sighs
to celebrate
near-death. Every year, I find myself snow-stuck,
heart-deep; again
double-exposed, sleet-streaked, pressed against glass.
Winter loves that self-portrait: me, window-paned,
inlaid with trees. Here I am, darkened eyes
draped in starlings.
Violeta Garcia-Mendoza
Violeta Garcia-Mendoza is a Spanish-American poet, writer, photographer, and teacher. She is a member of Carlow University’s Madwomen in the Attic Writing Workshops and a reader for Split Rock Review/Press. Her work has recently appeared or is forthcoming in Peatsmoke, District Lit, and Saint Katherine Review. Violeta lives with her family in Western Pennsylvania. You can find her online at https://www.violetagarciamendoza.com, and on IG @violeta.garcia.mendoza and Twitter @VioletaGMpoet.