Some Functions of Snow

Elizabeth Zetlin
From:   Addictions of a Poet Laureate. Always Press, 2008.

For quiet. To play
charades with the trees,
tickle the backs of lakes.
For obliteration, alliteration
and rhyme. To refrigerate
knees, force us to slow down, simplify,
clean out the closets. To insulate
and lessen loss — of water
from dormant plants, of sadness
from the rest of us. To sparkle.
To make us dig out from under
crystallized patterns. To clear the palette.
To remind us we're not in control.
To awaken shoulders and ache backs,
make us look up from whatever we're doing,
bring us closer to clouds. To be
atmospheric, translucent, one of a kind.
To halt traffic, close schools, disturb reception, cancel
just about everything as we fall to earth,
flail our arms like wings, become
what we like to call snow angels,
enter stillness, melt.

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Elizabeth Zetlin's works copyright © to the author.