Getting Ready for Snow

University of Northern Iowa

Getting Ready for SnowAuthor(s): Dan MastersonSource: The North American Review, Vol. 261, No. 3 (Fall, 1976), p. 54Published by: University of Northern IowaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25117811 .

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DAN MASTERSON

GETTING READY FOR SNOW

The attic trunk opens to dust,

its mothball breath unfolding with wools

set there last spring when we felt

we might be sharing the last

of our seasons together;

but now, a bonus of days.

The hooded jackets, their gloves

supple enough to eat; deep in one pocket,

a kleenex, grey and untouchable

as a dead mouse found in the rafters.

Then come the leggings harsh as wicker,

and boots ready for the back fields

where toboggans run all winter,

and a forgotten helmet

fitting no one this year.

Clothing done, we turn to outer things:

gutters banked with leaves, the shed

waiting to be stacked with wood;

Nothing so suits such a day

as the raised arm falling, making its mark

on the crack of any log, scattering slabs

enough to warm the bones through

the given nights ahead.

THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW/FALL 1976

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