Another blizzard, another day off. I brush a half inch of water out of the garage before I start the snow-crusted Toro. The hum of the four-cycle motor fills the frigid air.

The blower casts a jet of encrusted snow to the slope side of the driveway. I follow up its work with a snow shovel. The scrape of the shovel as it plows residue to the sides somehow fills the air, too.

No sooner am I finished — inside, showered, catching my breath — than frozen rain falls.

sunlight reflecting
off the fresh driveway sheen
impotent salt

first published in Image Curve, February 16, 2017

republished here

photograph by Philip Gielda