This poem is lovingly dedicated to my dog-niece, Zoey, who was everything wonderful about snow ... and life. She loved everyone lavishly and had a soulful exuberance to life that is missed by all of us. There was and there will always be one Zoey Girl. Her passing took our breath away, just like snow sometimes does as it falls.
Sometimes
When
I write poetry
I forget it is one digit writing
From my good hand.
I don't hear radios or tvs
Or the groaning in the house.
I sometimes remember snow
As it drifts outside
My window.
Little white flurries flicker
Across the periphery
Of my eye
While Chance sniffs
My hoodie.
Washing machine chugs along.
And yet there is a stillness,
A certain silence in the house,
Zoey, in reflection, at the top of the stairs,
One eye ready to open if a sound comes near.
Others off to work and school
Tire prints fresh in snow.
I sometimes remember snow
And lying face down in it.
S u d d e n l y
Then my world changed
Red bleeding into white
A dramatic interlude.
Sometimes I remember that.
Mainly, I feel the snow
Outside the window
The snow that recently left,
Melted.
Or fresh puffs, white powder promise
For thirsty lakes, parched from dry spells.
Sometimes I remember snow, snow balls and snow people,
Scooping up fresh snowy heaps
Glistening in sun
Snow flurry pilings
That our dog did not find.
Placed gently in a bowl, adding Hersey's
Chocolate, eating snow blizzards,
Laughing with others
Teeth chattering, cold and wet under
Coats and gloves.
I remember snow...
First ski attempts, floundering,
Collapsing in a snowy white mass,
Giggling, soaked and soggy
Falling again and again
Slipping and sliding
Sometimes on the
Hand held ski tow
That pulls you way up
As you Lean Way Back
It's nothing like riding a horse!
Reaching the summit
In my case sometimes,
Less than my friends,
Pros at laughter
And scant snowy tumbles.
Red fire logs burning,
In Ski Lodge Paradise.
Hot chocolate never
Tasted so good.
Yet never missing it when I left.
Though Snow makes for pretty pictures,
Snow Angels,
Laughter with nieces,
Funny snow people with carrot noses,
Joy with
Puppies and dogs
As they run astonished,
In Snowy cold satisfaction,
Up hilly mounds and down,
Legs nearly buried as they plow through.
Zoey standing outside in cooling snow
Flurries, licking snow patches
Now and again
With her tongue.
Standing vigil as her mother drives away.
Snow takes your breath
Away
Like now
When She falls,
Flitters, swirls,
And flirts
Carpeting Mother Earth.
Sun, Occasional Blue Sky,
And Puff Cotton Clouds Sigh
In Reverent Mountain Chants.
Snow twitters, mummers and purrs
Still falling gently.
Sunshine bursts through happy
With one hand clapping.
Pine needles glisten,
Mirroring Sunlight.
Bright Happiness giggles.
Mountain stands steady,
Enjoying Creation
As the Sun Kissed Snowy
Carpet dozes all around.
