Snow Day
I like the way things slump in the snow,
the way the conifers bend across the road
and buckle under white boughs
the way it rattles down through heavy branches
the way the man passing by makes an arch of his back
and how two crows come to land on a covered chimney stack
I like the way noise doesn’t travel
the way the valley sits so quietly
how you can’t see the other side
the way the trains cross Otley Road bridge so slowly
the way cars sit tucked in their spaces, and the little craters kids make
scooping up cold handfuls as they pass
I like the way they build igloos up by the Trig
and snowmen on the green
the way dogs jump and chase for snowballs
the way cats refuse to be seen in it
how it always arrives too late for Christmas
and the way people swap their best coats for sensible ones
I like the way it makes Lucy’s cheeks turn red
when she rushes to put her wellies on
to get out in the garden
stick a ruler in the fall
and tell me every hour, like it’s the first time,
it’s getting deeper!
I like the way it arrives in the night,
steady, slow, still coming
blanches in surprise when you pull back the curtains
how it washes everything out
and the way it takes a few days
to make a proper exit.
DRYSTONE. 