The snowman

by trimple

I met a secondhand snowman,
wearing an old, worn-out hat
and thought...

'How lonely you seem...'

No buttons on his imaginary coat.
No knitted scarf to keep in the cold...

And his nose! That poor frozen nose
just a footstep away from his invisible toes--
hidden from view in its own carrot-shaped hole.

His eyes though...

Oh, how I remember the power behind those big black eyes,

* * * twinkling up at the stars * * *

as he stood in front of the low, shovelcrusted moon.

And that smile!

That great-big smile
when he felt the rush of freedom
in the hooves of the filthy pony, galloping past,
thrusting Bedwas snow in our faces...

**********

Breathing in the fresh cold air,

he began to sing

and he began to melt

and he melted... and he melted... and

his lovely song became louder,
louder and louder,

until all that was left
was a little yellow bird;

A Canary

coughing-up black soot

in the crook of my arm...

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Poem of the Month contest entry

Recognized

My inspiration dates back to a time when people used lumps of coal to decorate their snowmen.

Ponies were used to haul the coal up from the mines and canaries were kept in cages to indicate any deadly gas fumes as they would die with low levels of exposure, thus alerting the miners.

Bedwas Navigation Colliery was a coal mine in the small Welsh village of Bedwas, two miles (3.2 km) north of Caerphilly. The colliery opened in 1913, and closed after the miners' strike of 1984-85.

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The snowman

by trimple

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