224 Words for Snow

We woke up to lots of snow today. The kids have been outside romping in it, and my favorite high-schooler has already been by to clear the driveway and the walks. Back in the day (before arthritis), I loved shoveling snow ..... but maybe that's another post for another day. As it is, this side of my kitchen door is as close as I'm getting to snow today.

Have you heard that the native people in the far north (referred to sometimes, but according to my understanding, inaccurately, as Eskimos) have one hundred words for snow? I have heard it, too, but from what I understand it is legend and not reality. It's one of those legends that I really liked, though.

Snow seems to inspire poets. Just off the top of my head I can think of several: one about drifts by Donald Hall; one about going out to get the mail by Robert Bly; coming home with "stars on my shoulders" by Mary Oliver; the super-star "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost (I happen to love that poem, even though it's probably overplayed); one about a snowy day in East Lansing, a town which has a special place in my heart, by Deborah Somebody I Think; Miss Dickinson has a few; and, of course, my all-time favorite "Snow" by Anne Sexton. Couldn't find any of these easily this morning, though, and since I burst your bubble about the 100 Words For Snow thing, I feel I should offer some 224 other words for snow: some by a veddy, veddy famous English poet, Thomas Hardy; some by me (well, it's kind of about snow); and some by the budding poet, AJ, who just had to help mommy with her blog post today.


Snow in the Suburbs by Thomas Hardy (excerpt)

Every branch big with it,
Bent every twig with it;
Every fork like a white web-foot;
Every street and pavement mute:
Some flakes have lost their way, and grope back upward when
Meeting those meandering down they turn and descend again.

Read the whole poem here.


Untitled by me

this draft has been removed


Snow Is Fallin' Down Into a White Blanket by AJ

Snow is fallin'
Seems like it's dancin'
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh
goes the graceful dance
Snow - sometimes I wonder
if it is dancers

and frostbite goes
bite! bite! bite!
with its horrible teeth

This snow will come again
next season And we
learn nothin' from the snow


And, because I can't resist, a bonus link to a good one by Billy Collins, called Snow Day.

If you have a favorite poem, or other piece of writing, or song, or piece of art, that features snow, tell us about it in Comments. Thanks.