Buffalo
by Lionel E. Deimel
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Buffalo
Snow
More snow
Snow on snow
Snow on snow on snow
On Buffalo
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| Buffalo, New York, has a reputation for
receiving monumental quantities of lake-effect snow. In 2001, the city
had received virtually no snow until just before Christmas, when a seemingly
endless snowstorm began. Because some friends of mine had planned to
drive to Buffalo to visit relatives on December 26, I paid more attention to the news
reports from Buffalo than I normally do. I composed this poem in my head
as I walked through a quite modest snowfall in Pittsburgh while
listening to a radio story on the plight of the city on Lake Erie. I
can’t say whether the version above is exactly as I first conceived
the poem, but it is certainly close to it. I considered variations, but
what you see here seems to work. Uncharacteristically, I used no
punctuation in the poem, since punctuation seemed useless and
distracting. Don’t read the poem like a single sentence, however, but
pause after each line. The phrase “snow on snow,” of course, is
borrowed from Christina Rossetti. (Written
12/28/2001.) |
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