SNOW WOMAN                                                              

Show off                                                                                         

your white wardrobe.                                                                     

Strut your stuff by staying                                                        

still.                                                                                                  

Thrill 

with the chilly arctic airs

you inhale, your earth-bound

carrot nose 

that smells

springtime inside a blizzard.

Stretch your

cold mouth. Make your dreamy

flakes, downy

lace into the cheeky smile

that salutes its own ice.

See how

your royal weight                                                                       

waits patiently 

to put on                                                                           

a sparkling coat of silver,

and how the one

snowflake you call

your heart looks like all the

others.

Rejoice 

that, though

your hands and arms have lost

their tree, they still

rise up to heaven.

That your coal eyes,

once crushed

by rock, 

turn round and bright.

Praise

the light that melts

you.                                                                                      

 “Snow Woman” was first published in 1917 in the Anthology of Appalachian Writers: Charles

Frazier Edition, Volume IX.