Silent Lion

Inspecting each other's hats
to gawk at snowflakes,
standing on Lion Lake
frozen over.

A raven caws.

You make a snow angel.

We venture out onto the center of the lake
following the tracks of squirrels and rabbits.
You hold up a handful of powder
and rub it in my face. Say,
"Welcome to Montana."

My car gets stuck in the snow
just as it gets dark,
so we sit in the car
eat tortilla chips
and make exquisite corpses together

for 3 hours

till your friend shows up in a truck,
yanks me out of the snow with his four-wheel drive,
laughs at me, crazy Chicagoan
what were you thinking?

Back on pavement,
I pull up alongside him
to thank him. He gets out,
walks to the passenger window--
"You two look thirsty"--
and hands us two beers.