What to do with reality

1.

A Wind of Reputation
like a Chinook Wind, easily
vaporizes snowdrifts, slaps
the broad face of everything, bullies
a walker to stoop, strips off
topsoil and intimidates
the landscape to pose in
odd eroded arrangements.

The trees
learn to reach into
the ‘deep down things’ and lean –
trained by endurance
to endure.

2.

A late Spring Snow Storm
snarls traffic, snarling the words
of one commuter, convinced the snow
was sent to torment her
Sisyphean journey – to work.

nearby –
in a schoolyard – west coast children
race to roll up the largest snow boulder,
crisscross paths haphazardly, shout –
regale each effort and easily
abandon the work at the bell.

3.

A Chinook Wind and an Icy Street
lures two children with a sled and a plan
outside. The same wind that polishes the street
smooth and hard, gusts erratically
as the children wrestle a cardboard box
behind their back.
They are fearless until that wind
yanks back at them, angry-like,
all buck and bluster. Mustering courage
they regroup, and regroup again until –
somehow –
two children, on a sled, with a cardboard sail
harness an untameable beast.

Skimming up the length of the street
they savor their first taste of glory.