Responsible Avalanche
- Responsible Avalanche
Avalanche in Alaska responsible for one highway worker's death.
—CNBC News February 4, 2000
My body is made of snow, I am responsibleWhat ticked me off a few years backTicked me off again
Not earth warming below me, but how it warmedSlowly, and how more snow above joinedThe already large body I eventually became
I wasn't born a twister, a tropical storm, or a quiet flurryI was born a responsible avalanche
On such a steep hill, a highway below meTempting traffic, hope journeys byAahh, I drift toward the sentimental about a dayOne person was in my way
No matter how loud those men said my nameI knew they weren't calling me, only yellingLike someone screaming, "FIIRRRE"As if you could ever tire something down [End Page 70]
Melissa Hotchkiss's first book of poems, Storm Damage, was published by Tupelo Press. Her poems and prose have appeared in numerous publications, among them the American Poetry Review, Green Mountains Review, Free Inquiry, LIT, Upstairs at Duroc, and the anthology Poets for Palestine. Melissa is one of the founding editors at Barrow Street Press, established in 1998. She lives in New York City.
