Saving Snow by Susan J. Atkinson

April 5, 2023
Poem title: Saving Snow Poet: Susan J. Atkinson Poem: My youngest wears fur-lined boots all summer. Pairs them with bathing suit bottoms and a blue and white fleece hat, its flaps crushing her curls and flattening her ears. She is a winter baby, holds on to cold with tight delight. Through her favourite season she adores the snow, pecks at falling flakes with a ravenous tongue, spends hours scooping mittenfuls of white, smothering her mouth in delicious slush. She wants to keep the snow, shovels as much as she can into a Ziploc bag and only when it is almost impossible to close does she seal her treasure. On boot-clad tiptoes, thaw trickling from her soles, she buries it in the freezer. My girl-child saves her snow for summer days when her world is hot and the mustard-coloured ball of Julys sun smolders through the afternoon. On days like these she takes out her frost-burned bag, smells the frigidity of February and tastes her winter months. End of poem. Credits and bio: Copyright © Susan J. Atkinson Susan J. Atkinson is an award-winning poet. Her work has been published widely in journals, anthologies and online. Atkinson’s debut collection, The Marta Poems was published by Silver Bow Publishing in 2020 and in 2021 Catkin Press published her chapbook, The Birthday Party, The Mariachi Player and The Tourist. She is currently working on her second collection and is the author of 4 picture books for children. Visit www.susanjatkinson.com for more information.