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| Andrew Macara |
Snow Day
Today
we woke up to a revolution of snow,
its
white flag waving over everything,
the
landscape vanished,
not
a single mouse to punctuate the blankness,
and
beyond these windows
the
government buildings smothered,
schools
and libraries buried, the post office lost
under
the noiseless drift,
the
paths of trains softly blocked,
the
world fallen under this falling.
In
a while, I will put on some boots
and
step out like someone walking in water,
and
the dog will porpoise through the drifts,
and
I will shake a laden branch
sending
a cold shower down on us both.
But
for now I am a willing prisoner in this house,
a
sympathizer with the anarchic cause of snow.
I
will make a pot of tea
and
listen to the plastic radio on the counter,
as
glad as anyone to hear the news
that
the Kiddie Corner School is closed,
the
Ding-Dong School, closed.
the
All Aboard Children’s School, closed,
the
Hi-Ho Nursery School, closed,
along
with—some will be delighted to hear—
the
Toadstool School, the Little School,
Little
Sparrows Nursery School,
Little
Stars Pre-School, Peas-and-Carrots Day School
the
Tom Thumb Child Center, all closed,
and—clap
your hands—the Peanuts Play School.
So
this is where the children hide all day,
These
are the nests where they letter and draw,
where
they put on their bright miniature jackets,
all
darting and climbing and sliding,
all
but the few girls whispering by the fence.
And
now I am listening hard
in
the grandiose silence of the snow,
trying
to hear what those three girls are plotting,
what
riot is afoot,
which
small queen is about to be brought down.
Billy
Collins
We
needed a colourful snow poem to off-set the Longfellow one (“Snow-Flakes”)
where snow is about grief. Too dismal to stand alone! No, we need some life and
fun, some freedom and revolution. I love how the poet calls himself “a willing
prisoner”, and then describes how the snow has set all the children free. “Riot
is afoot.” I too am a sympathizer with “the anarchic cause of snow”.
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