Self-Portrait as a Fine Winter Drizzle

By John Schneider

I could smell December’s end
descending like a woven mesh

like television static      the cloth
holding a wound together    a never-

ending series of Seurat dots
stippling a cold pavement

leaving subtle openings
a flower’s nascent bloom

a brief refuge from self-reflection
a form of prayer      an invitation

to recognize the entirety
of our story     to finally

enter into that silence     each drop
a thread in the fabric      the spaces between

---

John Schneider’s debut poetry collection, Swallowing the Light, winner of the Pinnacle Book Achievement Award in Poetry and nominated for the Hoffer Award, was published in 2022. His non-fiction book, Dreaming and Being Dreamt, was published by Routledge in 2023. His poetry has been a Merit Award winner in Atlanta Review’s 2021 International Poetry Competition. He is also a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee. He resides in Berkeley, California.