Louis Groarke: Urban Blizzard: Québec

Urban Blizzard: Québec

Τὰ ψυχρὰ θέρεται, θερμὸν ψύχεται, ὑγρὸν αὐαίνεται, καρφαλέον νοτίζεται.

(Cold becomes hot; what is hot, cold, the wet, dry; the dry, wet.)

—Heraclitus

like insects, snowflakes slowly swarm
all day long inside the storm
on every surface they alight
on straight and sharp and bent alike
they end each journey where they lie
then fall asleep and gently die
collect in piles on every side
like dead insects cast aside

mills and factories on the hill
are silent now—they stand there still
the roads are blocked, the city square
is ringed with cars abandoned there
the stores have closed, the schools shut down
heaps of snow, each home surround

the snowfall spreads its flimsy weave
the news has promised no reprieve
imprisoned now and locked indoors
we shelter seek from winter’s wars
we peer through windows, peeved, dismayed
as nature mocks our routine ways
we curse, complain, prayers upward…