Billy Collins finale

 

Snow Day

Today we woke up to a revolution of snow,

its white flag waving over everything,

the landscape vanished,

not a single mouse to punctuate the blankness,

and beyond theses windows

the government buildings smothered,

schools and libraries buried, the post office lost

under the noiseless drift,

the paths of trains softly blocked,

the world fallen under this falling....

I will make a pot of tea

and listen to the plastic radio on the counter,

as glad as anyone to hear the news

that the Kiddie Corner School is closed,

the Ding-Dong School, closed,

the All Aboard Children's School, closed,

the Hi-Ho Nursery School, closed,

along with--some will be delighted to hear--

the Toadstool School, the Little School,

Little Sparrows Nursery School,

Little Stars Pre-School, Peas-and-Carrots Day School

the Tom Thumb Child Center, all closed,

and--clap your hands--the Peanuts Play School.

So this is where the children hide all day,

These are the nests where they letter and draw,

where they put on their bright miniature jackets,

all darting and climbing and sliding...          Billy Collins

Living on the Great Lakes Plain, in a little town that averages nearly 100" snow a season, though it's been much less the last few years (climate change??), this reflection on snow made me smile, first for Collins' wonderful imagery and clever vocabulary, but primarily for remembering a recent snow day here. Part of the snowstorm forecast is listening to the radio or checking alerts on your phone or TV. One evening, on the brink of an incoming blizzard-snow, we were reading the runner under a TV program as it announced all of the next day's closings....schools, of course, and some major events. But the one that sent us into gales of laughter as it passed by, was this one, "The Dining Alone group is cancelled."

What?!