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By William Baer

Timing’s everything. The vapor rises
high in the sky, tossing to and fro,
then freezes, suddenly, and crystalizes
into a perfect flake of miraculous snow.
For countless miles, drifting east above
the world, whirling about in a swirling free-
for-all, appearing aimless, just like love,
but sensing, seeking out, its destiny.
Falling to where the two young skaters stand,
hand in hand, then flips and dips and whips
itself about to ever-so-gently land,
a miracle, across her unkissed lips:
as he blocks the wind raging from the south,
leaning forward to kiss her lovely mouth.


William Baer, “Snowflake” from Borges and Other Sonnets. Copyright © 2003 by William Baer. Reprinted by permission of Truman State University Press.

Source: Borges and Other Sonnets (Truman State University Press, 2003)

  • Activities
  • Love
  • Nature

Poet Bio

William Baer
William Baer was born in Geneva, New York. As a writer, editor, translator and professor, Baer has authored and edited fifteen books. He is the founding editor of The Formalist, a literary journal dedicated to Formalist poetry, and serves as a contributing editor of Measure. Baer is a former poetry editor and film critic of Crisis Magazine. He teaches creative writing, cinema and world cultures at the University of Evansville, in Evansville, Indiana, where he lives with his wife and children. See More By This Poet

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