Bone Winter
Poem by: ARACELI ESPARZA
Crow flies from tree to tree
Against a mute colored sky
Ice garbage road kill
Clutter the curbsides
Reminiscent of cow head Calaveras
And other animals that roamed the land before
Petrified with exhaust
miniature ice bergs lay dead on the side of the road
This is man’s winter bones
Reminders of how he has altered nature
With his tools, gadgets and modernisity
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Araceli Esparza serves as the Latino/Bilingual children’s literature and literacy consultant at the Madison Public Library system in Wisconsin. She has an MFA with focus on Children’s literature from Hamline University and has published in various magazines and literary journals including Diálogo Journal, DePaul University, and Verse Magazine. Her research focuses on Latino Children’s Literature and intersections of race, class and gender. Araceli has presented her research at the National Latino Children’s Literature Conference, YWCA Racial Justice Summit, and Hamline University.