The First Time I Saw Snow
by Jeff Talmadge
It was the day I turned five and winter in Texas.
My mother woke and walked me to the window
at the front of the house, pointing outside, smiling.
Look, she said.
I asked her what it was we saw,
thinking she had brought it for my birthday.
She was thirty-eight.
Snow, she said. Snow.
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First published in Miramar.
I’m partial to short poems, which this certainly is, and I was happy with how much information and sense are conveyed in such a few lines. Only two words are quoted (one of them said twice). I wanted to convey a sense of the relationship without directly describing it. The scene, short though it is, captures that moment for me.
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JEFF TALMADGE was born in Uvalde, Texas, about 70 miles from the Mexican border and grew up in small towns like Crystal City, Wharton, Boling and Big Spring. At Duke University, he won the Academy of American Poets Award, and his poems have appeared in numerous literary journals and magazines. He was a civil trial attorney in Austin before becoming a full-time musician. Jeff has received numerous awards for his songwriting. His most recent record is Sparrow. www.jefftalmadge.com