Tuesday Poem - Billy Collins' Snow Day


Perhaps you are already dug out and off to school and work or whatever. I am, but many in my neighborhood are not - none of the schools are open. So here's a wonderful poem by the wonderful Billy Collins for everyone still living in that world of the Snow Day.

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.

Comments

Ray Barnes said…
Interesting poem but, oh that picture. Now that is what I call snow.
Ray Barnes said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
I know, right, Ray? We had about 18 inches here on Friday/Saturday. It was really lovely - very dry and powdery. And now it is all almost gone because the sun came out and the temperature went up. Only the big piles that were the result of plowing, and a few drifts, are left. So it all came and went in 4 days. It's supposed to be 63 degrees on Sunday.