‘Tis the Season
december 6
predawn, -1°C, cloud cover.
on the black asphalt chalkboard of sidewalk
at the foot of a driveway i cross
during my morning walk
i see white hieroglyphs—
tracings of snow or road salt
that read as analysis
of after-the-fact game-plays scribed
by a coach (santa?). it looks as though the
players (elves?) had a snowball fight
with tiny round explosions and comet-tails of white.
as i puzzle over this
i feel a muffled roll of thunder
shudder over the ground
and separate itself into hoof-clops
as it moves onto the street
with lightning speed. i whirl
towards the sound and halt. the
sound also comes to a halt
and looks to me
as i look to it,
i with my bulk of clothing and reflective vest,
it with its sleek body and antlered head (reindeer?).
we reach a quiet understanding
and each continue quietly
on our way into the day.
two miles distant, the rumble of a train
travels north (polar express?).
i’m thinking i might bring
a leather harness of sleigh bells to ring
on tomorrow’s walk.
—dotty seiter
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gift wrap
2025
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Notes about poem and art:
• “december 6” is a poem in homage to Ted Kooser, with a tiny bit of tongue in cheek. More about Kooser coming soon.
• My poem spurred me to create some hand-painted holiday gift wrap today, something I’ve enjoyed doing several times in recent years.
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8 responses to “‘Tis the Season”
Ted is wowing me all over again. Such a gift he has for noticing, such a gift for wordsmithing, such a gift of alchemy between the noticing and wordsmithing.
Love how my self-described tongue-in-cheek became cheeky in your comment; don’t know that I’ve ever before thought of any relationship between the two (speaking of noticing, alchemy, and wordsmithing!). Thank you!
As I sit here in my light-snow-falling-in-the-cold dawn of a December day, it’s hard to imagine your sun and warmth! I am so beset by the day-after-day need for layers and layers of clothing … and we have months to go yet!
Thanks for your appreciation for my taking a simple walk and seeing it as story. I am newly finding my way with developing that skill and having (mostly) fun with the challenge.
Thanks, too, for seeing the 2-in-one nature of a gift wrapped in hand-painted gift wrap; a couple of years ago, my son and daughter-in-law took the gift wrap and framed it—it looks excellent on the wall in the montage they have there!
Vis a vis my previous post in which you commented on the near-black green of Viennese evergreens, the near-black in my gift wrap is Hooker’s Green Deep Hue : )
Magic!
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