Poem in my Post: Last Snow by Heid E. ErdrichThis is the last day of April, the last day of National Poetry Month and hopefully the last of the snow here in Minnesota. I participated in Independent Bookseller Day on Saturday and drove to 12 bookstores in the Twin Cities. We went to Birchbark Books which is owned by one of my favorite authors, Louise Erdrich, whose poetry I love. Heid E. Erdrich is the sister of Louise and an amazing writer and poet in her own right and I think more people should know about her and read her poetry. Plus she makes collaborative poem films! How cool is that!
Last Snow
BY HEID E. ERDRICH
Dumped wet and momentary on a dull ground
that’s been clear but clearly sleeping, for days.
Last snow melts as it falls, piles up slush, runs in first light
making a music in the streets we wish we could keep.
Last snow. That’s what we’ll think for weeks to come.
Close sun sets up a glare that smarts like a good cry.
We could head north and north and never let this season go.
Stubborn beast, the body reads the past in the change of light,
knows the blow of grief in the time of trees’ tight-fisted leaves.
Stubborn calendar of bone. Last snow. Now it must always be so.
Heid E. Erdrich, “Last Snow” from The Mother’s Tongue. Copyright © 2005 by Heid E. Erdich. Reprinted by permission of Salt Publishing.
Visit Heid at her website: http://heiderdrich.com/
You need to check out her poem films.
Have a great month in May!
