1. Snow angels.
2. Love getting out here before anybody else. My footprints are the first in a huge sea of blue-white sparkling snow.
3. There’s a bounce Tink’s step this morning. She likes this snow. It’s not too deep for her to enjoy.
4. I seriously think that whole ear thing was allergy-related. The only thing that’s helped me is Benedryl.
5. I saw this article about Aliquippa posted by a friend of mine from high school. I posted it on my FB page, too. An excellent article about my hometown. So I remembered this old poem of mine. It’s not the poem I’d write today. It needs a lot more work. But I thought I’d share, which might provide the impetus I need to actually dig in and finish it properly.
Rituals
Beyond the smoke
of this city,
lies the steel
that made it,
that broke it.
The empty mills
now sitting like picked-over
carcasses along the banks
of the Ohio
stand in effigy
to the gods,
reckless in their schemes
for the an
working his life around
the rituals of steel,
paying homage to the time-clock;
pouring blood libations
into the alchemy
of fire, earth, and ore;
honoring his father
and grandfathers, who never
finished school, but went directly
into life, tending the smoke.
