by Sean Ulman
Wind whapped stop signs. Twanging
twiggy signposts teetered. A runner
skipped his a.m. run. Sipped tea.
Watched wind sweep streets. Snow
specks and salt grime sift swirled
like dust storms. Tumbled gravelly
silt, news pages, plastic and trashcans.
Pops. Rapping patter. Windows
peppered by pebbly ice bits and spit
grit. Frosty smoke spat by mufflers
scooted black-iced streets. Wisped.
Evaporated like dry ice, like ghost breath.
Snow fell fast as rain. Downy fluff
sheeted town smooth. Roof and street
gutters bumpered. Streetlamps blunted
with puff balls. Fuzzy tree limbs
snow-coated like pipe cleaners. No
angles or edges. A wasteland
of wavy snow sweeps. Another foot
fell. Snow crumbs surfed crusted
surfaces. Clamoring wind whapped.
Frosted flags flapped. Cord rings rung.
Strings zapped flagpoles. For two
more days snow fell incessantly
at varying volumes and velocities.
White-out to gray sprays blotched
with whorls of white blur. Plows
plowed lots in nonstop laps.
Squawking Stellar’s jays, sheltered
in brambly copses, flicked, shook off
damp snow caps and hunkered down,
static as corpses. Alpine snow-pack
kept accumulating. Peak blocks
shellacked chalky patinas. Grades
of glacial dales and glades grew
more gradual. Blue sky bedded
brighter beyond suppler snowcaps.
Cobalt bay lay blasé. Coal-black
compared to sky’s sky-blue, blown
burst by sun eyelet center. Snow
plopped off bent poplar boughs
pocked perfect front yard snow-flows.
Tattered snow-quilted bumps. Mucked
glacial activity models. Snowfall
slowed to slothful flurries. Grainy
flakes fluttered sideways or upwards,
as if stretching their span of rarity
before falling fallen. Walkers gazed
skyward. Plum-purple atmospheric
lakes. Peachy-pink peak chunks
minted tropical sherbet shades.
Alpenglow afterglow. Blushed by
moon-glow and snow-reflection,
star shards twinkled and winked
from distant detached dimensions.
WILLOWS WEPT REVIEW 