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Monday, February 01, 2010

Monday Poetry Stretch - Snow

Richmond got dusted with another good amount of snow this weekend. There's at least a foot, schools are closed (not the university, however), and with low temperatures hanging around, it won't be going away any time soon. So, let's write about snow.

Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.

17 comments:

  1. A revision of an older poem, but it's all I have time for this week.

    SNOW PLOWS
    By Steven Withrow

    Frigid night,
    first light snow
    frosts blacktop.

    Plows shiver to life
    after silence,
    sleep.

    Truck engines
    cough quietly,
    frothy exhalations.

    All move out,
    slow, coordinated
    convoy.

    Snow falls.
    Blades scrape
    cold roads clean.

    Tired
    plowmen
    stop.

    Consider
    letting it mount,
    letting it grow.

    New light shows
    new snow
    flakes.

    Truck
    engines
    rumble.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Last Night's Snow

    The white eraser
    took out black lines
    of roads, dark
    roof rectangles,
    and scribbled branches.

    It rubbed away
    colored-pencil cars,
    gray streaks of fence,
    and etched hedges.

    But it can't erase
    my new red boots,
    my yellow scarf,
    or my blue coat
    as I tromp along,
    rewriting.

    --Kate Coombs, 2010

    ReplyDelete
  3. Living in Buffalo, NY, I write many snow poems. Here is one from the past...

    Snowflake

    Born in a cloud.
    Lived in sky.
    Died on my mitten.
    Why?

    -Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

    ReplyDelete
  4. first snow...
    the puppy's nostrils
    full of it

    ReplyDelete
  5. Amy,
    I grew up in Rochester and taught and went to grad school in Buffalo. There is much I miss about it, but definitely not the snow!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh my goodness! We have some things in common - my husband grew up in Victor. Did you go to UB? I'm presently at UB for my library science degree. Where did you teach? I used to teach fifth grade in Sweet Home. If ever you miss snow, I'll be happy to mail you an insulated envelope full of it. We live down in Holland, so it's white for many months in our parts.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Quiet
    is the sound
    of snow.
    Hush.
    Can you hear it?

    --Barbara J. Turner

    ReplyDelete
  8. Snowflake Designer

    I’m quick.
    I’m careful.
    I work when I wake.

    I’m cool.
    I’m quiet.
    I make no mistake.

    Each winter
    I sketch
    I measure
    I bake
    flake after
    flake after
    flake after
    flake.

    (If I find a double
    I take it and break it.)

    - Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ode to a California Winter
    By Nicole Marie Schreiber

    I know it’s why people move here--
    Sunny.
    Mild winters.
    72 degrees.

    But just once, I’d love to see snow
    sugaring those orange poppies,
    if only for a day.

    Just once
    instead of car chases
    and Amber alerts
    and traffic congestion
    and illegal immigrants
    all over the news,
    how about a freak snowfall
    blanketing the Hollywood sign,
    thick as meringue
    and just as sweet?

    Just once
    let’s keep everyone indoors
    and off the freeways,
    snuggling next to their gas fireplaces,
    drinking their Coffee Bean lattes,
    and taking off their sunglasses,
    if only for a day.

    Just once.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Tricia ~ I love writing about snow, but especially liked Kate's take on it this week.

    DRIZZLING SNOW

    A drizzle of snow
    laces the field
    where stubbles
    of corn stalks
    bear witness
    to turkey tracks
    sprinkled across
    its wintry breast.

    © 2010 Carol Weis

    ReplyDelete
  11. Southern Snow

    Trees steeled themselves
    against the coming cold.
    Sparrows and squirrels snuggled
    deep in strawed nests.

    Children caught the first flakes
    on trembling tongues, scraped
    white powder from the dry grass,
    and threw wet balls at friends
    until the unfamiliar cold
    hurried them inside
    in search of hot chocolate
    and warm hands.

    The sudden storm dropped
    an icy blanket
    over the city’s shoulders,
    waited for its arteries to slow,
    and sealed the frozen life
    in a box of snow.

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  12. Still
    so still
    all muffled
    buried
    overwhelmed
    All motionless
    suspended
    breathless
    under the
    veiled
    solstice moon.
    The years
    fall away
    on either
    side, and for a moment,
    all is
    still.

    copyright Feb.3, 2010

    ReplyDelete
  13. Much snow?
    No go.



    Jane Yolen


    PS I have done two books of poetry about snow and ice: SNOW, SNOW and ONCE UPON ICE., both from Boyds Mills WordSong imprint.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Tricia,

    Here's a bunch of original snow poems that I posted at Wild Rose Reader in the past month. Choose any/all that you'd like for the Poetry Stretch Results.


    Snowflakes falling like fairy dust...
    I turn my face to the sky,
    Cold white kisses
    Melting on my cheeks
    (First draft)


    Wrapped
    In a robe of white
    Numbed with cold
    The weary
    Earth
    Rests


    SNOW HAIKU

    After the blizzard
    snowmen are sprouting up
    like winter wildflowers

    Snowflakes fluttering
    from a wintry sky…a flock
    of white butterflies

    With his frosty feet
    little mouse prints a message
    in the snow: Hello!

    Like stars shaken from
    The sky, snowflakes whirling down
    In white galaxies

    A snowman shadow
    paints himself in blue upon
    a cold white canvas
    (From the book "Robert’s Snowflakes")


    TWO QUATRAINS

    Snow dropped by…
    and here am I
    catching flakes
    of falling sky!


    While I slumbered
    Through the night
    Winter turned
    My whole world white.



    MORE SNOW POEMS

    Winter Ballet

    It’s white snow,
    Bright snow,
    Soft-as-feathers light snow…
    Tiny ballerinas there
    Pirouetting through the air
    With their shiny crystal shoes
    In their winter dance debuts.


    Pond in Winter

    The meadow pond lies silent, still…
    Sealed in tight by winter’s chill.
    A downy quilt of fallen snow
    Hides a cold, dark world below.
    I wonder all the winter through:
    “What do fish and turtles do?”


    Winter White
    (Inspired by Joyce Sidman's Red Sings from Treetops.)

    Winter White
    whirls in the wind,
    waltzes down from clouds,
    alights with feathered feet.
    It pillows the ground,
    muffling the sound of footsteps
    on the walk.
    Winter White
    wraps the rhododendron
    in a fluffy shawl,
    lays a feathered quilt
    over the frozen pond.
    Winter White
    etches windowpanes with frosty fingertips.
    It whispers through icy lips,
    sounds like a ghost
    shivering in cold blue shadows.

    ReplyDelete
  15. You just keep getting the snow. Like the NW last year. Here's mine: http://maclibrary.wordpress.com/2010/02/04/poetry-friday-responding-to-prompts/

    ReplyDelete
  16. Snow True

    snow
    snow snow
    snow snow snow
    snow snow snow snow snow snow
    snowsnowsnowsnowsnowsnowsnowsnow
    SnowSnowSnowSnowSnowSnowSnowSnow
    SNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOW
    SNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOW
    SNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOW
    SNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSnowSnowSnow
    Snow Snow Snow Snow Snow
    snow snow
    snow Shovel


    by Liz Korba (expecting almost two feet of snow within the next 24 hours...)

    ReplyDelete