Winter Wonderland Writing

 The freeXpressions prompt was Winter Wonderland:

which prompted the following haikus:

cottage nestled

wood stove heat within

fresh water outside

brick ground floor

large open windows

fresh frigid air

figure arriving

chimneys smokeless

keep your coat on

I went for groceries

on a pleasant sunny day

and return to this

a tree trunk diverged

two paths it could follow

Robert Frost, it chose both

elaborate fence

guards an elaborate ditch

river guards itself

riding inner tubes

could be fun

with enough beer

with the freezing cold

I think trees respond to it

they stand more erect

blue skies of winter

look much colder than

blue skies of summer

off-grid living

wood-powered snow blower

a creature comfort

cold lonesome cabin

be bold! be adventurous!

grow wings and migrate

nice picture

now to recover

the camera

trees don’t follow

(including limbs and branches)

the straight and narrow

and then I wrote this microfiction:

A cabin in the woods - his first architectural commission. When it was done, the customer complained and demanded a refund.

Lumber harvested onsite made it a cabin near the woods. Lack of a front door made it an unusable stone and wood box. 

He replied that the trees he’d planted would grow well after the snows melted - that climate change would make the coconut palms thrive. And that entry to the structure was easy - just climb through one of the windows; given how uneven snowdrifts could be, why lock yourself into a single entrance? He even offered to pay for a step ladder - an expensive metal one that could be stored outside.

The customer, for some reason, wasn’t mollified. He reasoned that there was simply no satisfying some people. 

and then this prose poem:

Three seasons cabin stands starkly in the fourth. No sanctuary, this, ‘gainst howling storm, but edifice enough to persevere through blinding snows. Even Dorothy’s tornado would admit defeat to the stolid lodge. Only the most stubborn of residents, survivalist pests, eke out a meager living. 

It shivers alone.

The stream burbles on.