Michael T. Young

Ice Forming

My hands shrink
to the size
of the fragments
they gather.

My eyes narrow
into the space
between each glance
from strangers.

Time settles
slowly
into each brick
and blade of grass

until the weight of it
snuggles around all centers
and nothing can move.

Michael T. Young’s fourth collection, Mountain Climbing a River, will be published by Broadstone Media in late 2025. His third full-length collection, The Infinite Doctrine of Water, was longlisted for the Julie Suk Award. He received a Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the Jean Pedrick Chapbook Award. His poetry has been featured on Verse Daily and The Writer’s Almanac. It has also appeared in numerous journals including I-70, The Journal of New Jersey Poets, Rattle, and Vox Populi.