Dead on the Trail to School
There is still school despite the snow
Dressed up warmly I head out slow
Three long blocks to make my way
I crunch and push through anyway.
The first block I use to explore my land
Squinting I investigate the sight in-hand
White white white and bitter cold
Now head ducked down, I feel so bold.
The second block starts to feel like a brick
My mittens now wet from getting hit
The snowball fight took many down
We all sludge towards the school with frowns.
The third block turns me into ice
The tingling starts
Bright blinds my eyes
I am certain that the end is near
The school’s up ahead but I’m not there.
They will find me on the way
When I do not report to school today
Dead in the snow and curled up sad
In a newly made snow pile shoveled by dad.
O why do mother’s send their kids
Outside to freeze like popsicle sticks?
Why can’t I ride in a nice warm car
And look at those frozen kids from afar?
-by Ava Hypatia, August 2015
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Note: This was written to describe the first day of school after winter vacation for prompt at D’Verse Poets.
Ava Hypatia
Verbal Strings 
Nice twist at the end. The warm child would soon forget the freezing ones. I must admit however hat walking in the snow on very cold days is not fun. Thank you for taking part!
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Three blocks seemed like miles when very young. I have always despised winter; more so after I had to drive in it; lots of hills in the NW WA. but as a young child, snow time was magical & fun; but those halcyon days were limited & replaced by rancor.
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I don’t like walking in the cold on the way to school ~ I would rather go by a warm car too ~ Love the voice of the child, specially the wishing to be hide under the snow pile ~
Very nice cadence, thanks for sharing ~
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I remember walking to school in the freezing winter mornings….it felt like the Gulag! So I really resonate with your poem. In my day, kids NEVER got driven ANYWHERE. We walked. Didnt even occur to us we might be driven. How times have changed.
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Ha, I used to walk to school as a kid. Seems that in those days there was no thing as wind chill. We just walked & didn’t think twice about it.
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I walked to school too – 8 blocks worth. I never remember minding the cold but always enjoying getting home at the end of the horrible day for a mug of hot cocoa. Sometimes parents drove us when it was raining or sleeting but mainly, we walked. I enjoyed the changing of the seasons in a most intimate way by walking.
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3 blocks? Shit, I walked a mile. Poor little girl. 😉
A hilarious poem , loved it! Counting down the blocks with you was great fun.
Nicely done.
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Enjoyed the humor and rhyme of your fatal trek to school in winter!
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My father got a car quite late and my mother never drove, so yes, it was all walking for me too. There were some streets with stray dogs that I found terrifying in secondary school, I remember!
I like the trucculent voice of the child in this poem, the gradual icing over of limbs (but not thought/defiance) and the dash of humour!
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my mom used to walk to school everyday and in the wildest snowfall as well – she never complained though – for her it was a lot of fun even though they usually arrived soaking wet
i walked or rode my bike to school as well – in rain and snow – sometimes i hated it but it also was a good exercise – and luckily i never froze on the way…smiles
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since i live in a warm country imagining a child walking in snow appears a bit hard for me…love the child’s thoughts….
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I walked a mile in those drifts… the only thing cool was lunch time and the snow forts
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I remember those walks in the snow… mostly it was fun and play along the way, but sometimes you felt that your were drenched in snow. Today I’m glad I was never pampered in a warm van.
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Ah.. the heArt a lit one.. warmer
yes.. in humid rivers flow..
no snow in North Florida
row.. but prison goes
up the hill a little
further in brick
story school..
to take
River
flow
away
and eventually
freeze a heArt
no longer wave
oh.. ocean blue
of eyes i miss you
at 47.. but i flow
back to me at 55..
no signs of speed
limit for me..
i flow
i ride
the rivers
edge free
to waves of
Ocean Blue
in i’s of I! now..:)
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What a great, fun idea to take that trip a block at a time. It made me stop and reconstruct my own walk or bike ride. No snow in California but that didn’t mean that it was free of challenges…hilly ones. Loved the popcicle reference. LOL.
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Ah one block at a time – that is an interesting way to deal with the walk – and I like how you build the poem, the rhymes – many a times kids blame parents for forcing them out to school and you dealt it nicely.
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Nice humor:)
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My little brother and I used to arrive as frozen popcicles to school and the nurse would defrost our hands in her sink.
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