Poem of the Week: 10 October 2011

Each week I share a discovered poem for you to read, enjoy, share and comment on.

This one was written by a friend who I went to school with. This poem always haunted me, especially the part where Joseph Stalin says, "Why sad?" To hear it read in David's voice, there is a deeper peace in that phrase, as if a person could live in that phrase. As if I have lived in that phrase.

Difficult Snow

by David Cheezem

I am walking in difficult snow,
my boots gnawing the white

ground, and everything I know
is here. The alders, shivering,

are here, and the memory of devil's
club stinging last summer

is here. I am alone,
but Joseph Stalin is talking to me.

He is saying, "Why sad?"
and I tell him: I am

trying to write a good poem
about terrible things,

and I can't seem to find
a place in the language.

And Joseph Stalin laughs,
wraps the wool-clad arm around

my shoulder, and says,
"Ahhh, David, why make things

so difficult. All I have to do is speak,
and twenty thousand people

become my imagination,
and I don't see them any more."

The alders shiver;
the trail disappears.

I am walking in difficult snow
and I am alone,

but everything I know is here.