C.X. Turner
Winter Threshold
Near an ancient oak, I pause—a tiny doorway is carved into the bark, open as if inviting me in. Symbols line the wood, delicate markings in a script I can almost read. My fingers trace a ladder just above the frame, etched upward to nowhere I can see. The air carries a faint scent, like cinnamon toast on a cold January morning, fading as quickly as it appears—a passage, or maybe an escape.
where you lingered
frost settles deep—
I turn away
letting old warmth fall
with the withered leaves
About the Author
C.X. Turner lives in Warwickshire, UK. A haiku and tanka poet, she is the author of evergreen: a collection of haiku, senryu and tanka (Alba Publishing, 2024) and anemones: a mini haiku chapbook (Yavanika Press, 2023), and the co-author of Building Sandcastles: A Book of Short Poems (Literary Revelations, 2023).