Winter reunion — Summary

Dave BontaContemplative

home all at home an afternoon of ice

Learn Poems app

Try the Learn Poems app

Everything from the website trainer, and more: new exercises, voice recording and sharing, reminders, quick review.

Three short lines hold a small, quiet scene: a family gathered indoors while ice covers the world outside. The repetition in "home all at home" does most of the work. Saying "home" twice makes the word feel warm and settled, and "all" suggests everyone is present, nobody missing. The title, "Winter reunion," backs this up, so we picture people who may not often be in the same place finally sharing a house.

Then the poem turns to "an afternoon / of ice." The line break leaves "of ice" hanging by itself, and the word feels cold and still. Ice might keep people in, slow everything down, or hint at a frozen, suspended moment. The speaker doesn't say how they feel, but the tone suggests contentment mixed with a little stillness, maybe even a sense that this closeness can't last. The mood is cozy but fragile, like a moment you want to hold onto while the weather holds everyone in place.

Read also

More by Dave Bonta

All poems
ContemplativeDave Bonta

Plea bargain

I hear half a beat of drum to serve time have half a hope in the meantime praise God
DreamyDave Bonta

Cibola 3

I awake in the dark and shake free of sheets & blankets, of down-filled quilt. The rituals of waking– the long, hot shower, the coffee–give
ContemplativeDave Bonta

In good light

On a maple’s pale bark, a zigzag ladder—old tooth-marks from a wandering snail? Green islands of moss