Record snowfalls brought a flurry of poems about “the white stuff” (why is this the only synonym for snow you ever hear on weather forecasts?) from Michael Bryant (Snow Daze), Steven Phillips (Even the night) and Rhys Owain Williams (Let’s Talk About the Weather) who are all also featured elsewhere in the mag:


Snow Daze


White carpet falls as children laugh in wisdom’s face, They make a parody in a gormless snowman, Shaped ant-like, bug-buttoned with carrot antennae, Grinning, he mocks a frigid sun’s bed warming pan.


Cars get new quiffs, slippery customers, Elvis hips slide down Caerphilly mountain, Land in bubble-wrapped choc’late crunchie bars, Shoes vanish into a mattress again.


Dandruff drifts onto solid lakes, Meeting muddled ducks, sullen swans, It spray tans a shocked white city, Slows a pulse to basic functions.


We retreat to caves, Knocked into a daze, As a boxer’s honour is reduced to pity, Evolution rewinds to beta max simplicity.


Even the night


There’s a certain light with snow And a certain hushed silence When it’s fallen. The traffic noise dampened And the birds fall silent As the cold white glow Illuminates even the night.


Let’s Talk About the Weather


Love it or hate it, at least four inches of snow, in a Britain of self-scan checkouts, gets us talking again.


Jackie Jones’ excellent painting, Woman Shopping in Tesco in Pyjamas is available to buy. Please contact Jackie if you are interested in buying either the painting itself, or a print of the painting.


jacquelinejones67@yahoo.co.uk Jackie’s website –


www.http://gator1040.hostgator.com/~jacqueli/ 9


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