Liquid paper, and Pavlov’s dog made it impossible to go anywhere
Remember?
We walked through the blizzard to get some beer

Walking home from high school
Or was it college
In a blizzard
After Biology lab one night
I put on my goggles
Got all fogged up in the face
JJ drew a picture in my head of an old Dubliner
We talked about the snow covering the living and the dead

Remember?
When the Blizzard hit
The living and the dead both became sweet and low

We have stocks and bonds
We have food stamps and well-fare checks
We have sacraments
We are saved by faith alone
We have countrymen
We have a Queen
We have whips
We have whiplash
We have an outtie
We have an innie
We have innocence
We have experience
We have coverage
In the Church and in the burial ground

We like equality flow
We like death and taxes
We pour out of the Holy Spirit
We pour out the Holy Spirit
We get into it
We’re New Englanders of unlimited union
Snow flows from our lips and rests there for weeks
We’re survivors of war
We’re sports fanatics of a championship winning team

We’re Dunkin’ Donut’s Dominicans
Relating the story of the storm over coffee grounds

Snow in so many colors today
We’re school kids without school

Snowmen, snow forts, snowball fights,
Snow angles
We’re flopping around in the snow
Not caring that it’s cold
Coming in to some peanut butter toast and hot cocoa
With or without marshmallows

Blue sky, sunshine, snow everywhere
What else do we need to say?

The shoveling pain transforms
Into an exercise burn
Remember your physical body?

Layers and activity insulate
We’re cold, but we jump in the drift
Unadulterated child-like hyenas

We’re driving like Norse horsemen
Why not?
It is a thrill beautiful
It is death’s encouraging reminder

Blizzards come at any time
With or without the weathermen
We with the purple lips
We’ve been working too long in the snow
We’ve been playing too long too
We find it to be fitting
We lie in the snow

Blizzard
It is itself
It is perfect

Blow!

 

Andrew Borne is 2 Cups Poet 1 teaspoon Musician 1/4 teaspoon Salt 1/2 cup Absurdity 3/4 cup Chef 1 egg, beaten 2 1/3 cups Family Man. Mixed together and served raw. His column 7x appears weekly in Oddball Magazine.