Jeri Theriault

First Storm Alone

2007

Snow still falling  
trees wind-dancing   street
deserted. I assemble
old postcards  
hand-made papers   gesso
and silver    make
winter’s blur
paint trees and crows
and steeples. Radiator
hiss. My silent
phone. Snow
muffles Letna
and Old Town Square.
I make a new season
—blue moonlight
and river   green park.
Words catch in gnarled
trees   stubbornly
unbudding.

Jeri Theriault’s poetry collections include Radost, my red (Moon Pie Press) and In the Museum of Surrender, first place winner of the 2013 Encircle Chapbook Contest. She is the editor of WAIT: Poems from the Pandemic (Littoral Books). Her poems and reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in journals such as The Rumpus, The Texas Review, The New Ohio Review, and Plume. A Fulbright recipient and three-time Pushcart Prize nominee, she won the 2022 NORward Prize (New Ohio Review) and a 2019 Maine Literary Award for poetry. Jeri spent six years of her teaching career as English Department Chair at the International School of Prague, and now lives in South Portland, Maine.

Learn more about Jeri at www.jeritheriault.com