Nancy Scott


TO A SNOWFLAKE

(listen to the poem, read by Diane R. Wiener)

Some say that each of you
is a different shape
but almost no one notices.
You’re only part of a group—
occasionally brave and beautiful
but often inconvenient,
hazardous,
wished for and wiped away.
Is your freezing and falling
worth the sacrifice or
worth the collusion and slippery revenge?
Does it hurt to hit Earth
or roof or tongue?
Do you know what you nourish?
Is there life after melting?

Back to Top of Page | Back to Poetry | Back to Volume 15, Issue 2 – Summer 2021

MY CLOCK COLLECTION

(listen to the poem, read by Diane R. Wiener)

I marvel at finally having
the Grandfather Clock
I never had space for
chiming quarter hours
in my living room.
Ticking oddly almost silent
but bells skillfully
chorusing that I have grand things.
Westminster or Whittington?
No winding required.

Or perhaps the Mantel Clock
with its less ominous
hourly toll.
Less opulence but still good taste.
Or maybe Birdsong
or Holiday Music.
Or even a talking stock market update
to track and train wise investments.

All from the not-crystal ball
with just a few words
to open and receive
or silence any furnishing
though time freezes from time to time
requiring a quick disconnect
then plugging back in
and waiting for lights to come on.

Clock sounds fill strange
vacancies. Even the huge
vibrations of noon
do not cost more than
the million other miracles—
Echoes or Dots
on the map to happiness.

Back to Top of Page | Back to Poetry | Back to Volume 15, Issue 2 – Summer 2021

About the Author

Nancy Scott’s over 875 essays and poems have recently appeared in, among others, Black Fox Literary Magazine, Braille Forum, Chrysanthemum, Kaleidoscope, The Mighty, One Sentence Poems, Shark Reef, Wordgathering, and Yahoo News.