Over the weekend, the east coast of the US got slammed by winter storm Jonas. Lots of record breaking snowfall, plus winds and coastal flooding. Lucky for us, here in NY area, the storm struck on the weekend so even before the state of emergency was put into effect, a lot of folks were already tucked safe at home. Not only was the storm record breaking, it was back breaking as well. Shoveling two feet of snow isn’t much fun, and the older you get, the less fun it is.
Once we’d shoveled out, I had a chance to look over the photos I’d taken during and after the storm. The internet has been flooded with storm photos, but I tried to take shots that were a little different from most of what I’ve been seeing. After the sorting was done, I put on my creative thinking cap and wrote some haiku and tankas to go with them. Here they are–I hope you’ll enjoy them.
empty boots waiting
to make footprints in the snow
will keep toes toasty
shovels sit outside the door
time to put gloves on and go
wind from the northeast
brings with it a world of white
takes my breath away
dancers pas de deux
snowy leaps upon the glass
dance to wind music
the blizzard is past
brilliant sun kisses the day
melting icicles
amid the trees sits a house
made of snow and gingerbread
wood smoke in the air
once a princess lived inside
a stranger lives there today
the thorns of winter
prick us until we are chilled
shivers are bone deep
five birds on a branch
conversation in the sun
should we stay or go?
plump as a partridge
brown, black, and yellow feathers
shelter from the cold
break through to the street
shoveling finally done
until the next storm
Elise Skidmore
January, 2016
you are just so creative, loved todays musing.
Thanks so much! As you know, I love taking interesting photos, and sometimes it’s fun just to see what they inspire. Sometimes the photo inspires the poem, sometimes it’s the other way around.
Lovely poems, as always. 🙂
Thanks so much.
We got a dusting here, but it counts as a blizzard in Georgia. Didn’t even cover the roads.
Lucky you, Dale! We had about 2 feet of the white stuff. Keeping my fingers crossed that’s it for this season, but I seriously doubt we’ll be that lucky. Thanks for letting me know you dropped by.
Nice! You captured the scenes and atomosphere with your clear photos, and your short poems add depth and bounce at the same time.
Thanks so much, Alan. I’m so glad you enjoyed them. The hardest part for me was deciding which photos to use since I probably snapped about 200 over the 24 hours span. Must have shot 50 of the birds alone, as they were being very accommodating.
Nice pictures. Little did I know over the years when I read your posts and Facebook updates about shoveling out from one snow after another that I would pose with a snow shovel for my latest Facebook picture after getting back from the Jonas experience while visiting my granddaughters near Baltimore.
Nice to read your reflections. As for me, I’m glad to be back in Georgia.
Malcolm
Thanks, Malcolm!
I guess you lucked out in Georgia, since Jonas hit heavy pretty far south. Even with as much snow as we got, I know areas of VA got more.
Elise, you have a good eye for photos and I love the poetry that goes with them!
Thanks so much, Rosemary!