In the Wind/ poem by Guy Reed

We’ve got the freight train winds 
tonight, as we call them on this side 
of the mountain. Roaring—
a storm-front moving through
and I am convinced
an eighty-foot pine
will become air borne
and sail at last. The old stone cairns 
deep in the woods blow hollow.

It is double dangerous
to stand in the open doorway
smoking a cigarette while 
lawn furniture goes whistling by.

Pressing my body from behind 
I feel a subtle breeze, a ghost. 
With the wind an equal
opposite force, I am immobile.
This ghost is not cold, the wind
is not biting, I am not sure 
what either wants.

This wind is strong enough
to take the ghost away and deposit
it down the valley somewhere
unless it snags on a tree.
Ghosts are not immune
to nature’s forces,
they shiver in the cold
grow misty in the heat
and must seek shelter
from the tempest. 
Close the door.

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Guy Reed is the author of Second Innocence (Luchador Press, 2020), The Effort To Hold Light (Finishing Line Press), and co-author, with Cheryl A. Rice, of Until The Words Came (Post Traumatic Press). He’s published in journals, anthologies and contributed two poems, performing one, in a featured role for the film, I Dream Too Much. A Minnesota native, Guy has lived in the Catskill Mountains for the past twenty-five years.