Tu B’shvat

by Adina Kopinsky 

Tu B’shvat
the Jewish new year for the trees

How is it that spring comes
early to January, green film
feathering the still-wet rocks
beneath my feet, my fingers
naked and lifting in the light

behind these trees, a foxes’ den—
pups crackle the branches
I just passed, I feel their eyes
at the back of my spine, they remind
me of a different life.

How is it that the day ends
with dishes clean on the counter
rack, scrubbed like teeth
and fingernails, clean and simple
gratitude, purple haze

and orange fingers slicing
sunset through the trees; the trees
I just walked past, alone
and beloved.

Adina Kopinsky is an emerging poet living in Israel with her husband and three sons.  She has work published or forthcoming in Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Rust + Moth, and SWWIM Every Day, among other publications.