The Freedom Movement of 1965—1967
by Timothy Cook

      
    When it is too cold 
    to snow, when the plumbing 
    & car engines are frozen, 
    
    when the clouds are frozen 
    together into a cement 
    ceiling, when what is required 
    
    is an overabundance of faith 
    to believe there’s a sun 
    above the clouds, that 
    
    winter will ever end, 
    when the mounds 
    piled onto lawns have 
    
    frozen together, frozen over 
    fifths of liquor, when 
    the Lake’s surface is frozen, 
    
    another world beneath 
    teeming with activity, 
    a man frozen in motion 
    
    frozen in time shovels 
    the walk as he has done 
    over & over during 
    
    his days, working 
    the Pharaoh’s frozen 
    land, beyond him 
    
    the pooled gutter drain 
    frozen over, reflected 
    in it the moon. 
    
    
    
Packingtown Review – Vol. 25, Spring 2026

Timothy Cook graduated from Loyola University with a BA in philosophy and from the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. His work has appeared in Rogue Agent, [PANK], Health and Healing Folio, pioneertown, and San Pedro River Review, and he received a grant from the Mookie Jam Foundation.

  1. Adil Musabji
    Light It Uppoetry