A New Cold War
Dec 15 2008


I was hoping to be storm-stayed
by the first big blizzard,
when the fragile peace of fall
is broken
by the declaration of winter.
By the whine of tires
spinning slickly.
And the slow-motion choreography of cars
slithering into ditches.
And giant snowploughs bearing down,
furiously beeping
lights blinking
ghostly blue.

An intransigent mass of arctic cold
has occupied the front,
while a surprise attack
of warm moist air
funnels-up from the south,
colliding in a clash of snow and ice.
Until they leave behind
an unrecognizable no-man’s land.

I am a foot soldier
in a new cold war,
leaning into horizontal snow
eyelids freezing shut
beard frosted over,
my frozen breath suspended in the air above my head
like a dialogue bubble
full of expletives.
And snow over-flows my boot-tops,
trickling-down like ice-picks
as I stumble through the drifts.

But here
in the glow of the roaring fire
the world outside is a snow-globe,
shaken over-and-over
by an excited little boy.
Fluffy flakes
swirl about
in a white confetti blizzard
— like a victory parade
in the very first skirmish
of winter.