Birds
two days ago, flooding rain yesterday, snow today! Bette Hileman is a
writer and photographer who divides her time between Reston and
Jeffersonton, Virginia. For 27 years she wrote about environmental
health and climate change for Chemical & Engineering News, the
weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society. She has completed
one novel and is working on a second. Her photos of local landscapes
have been exhibited at Ice House Gallery in Washington, VA and at the
Windmore Foundation for the Arts in Culpeper. This is Bette’s first
published poem and she wrote it in the early morning hours before the
snowstorm of February 5. How many of you had this experience this
winter? How many of you liked it?
Awaiting Snow
By Bette Hileman
I wake up at two a.m.
Everything is still.
The city, waiting with bated breath,
Makes no sound.
At first, I imagine the electricity has gone out.
But the stove clock is lit.
I look at the park through a third-story window.
Not a single branch moves.
The air inside feels different, somehow strange.
Is it the low pressure
Preceding the storm?
This snowfall may exceed any in history.
Will our power fail?
Will our food and water last?
It is too quiet.
I’m afraid.
Very nice, Bette. Congrats on being part of the vox poetica community. You will love it.
I can feel your anxiety and anticipation. And I like the image of the stove clock.
I loved the poem, which evoked that sense of breath-catching fear that comes when a little terror catches your heart. I want to read more, Bette.
I loved the poem, which evoked that sense of breath-catching fear that comes when a little terror catches your heart. I want to read more, Bette.
Images formed in my mind when I read your poem. Great job of expressing emotion as well.
Lovely, simple,clear – expresses the feelings of many of us with great style.
Expressive capture of the anticipation and justified anxiety to a monumental snow storm. Loved “Not a single branch moves.”
Lovely. It’s true–the air inside did feel different–and made us feel different, too. Wonderful poem, Bette.
I love your expression and curiosity
Bette – yes, you remind me there is unique feeling of suspense. i don’t feel afraid though, but you captured your moment.
I’d like to submit a poem. Please instruct. Kit