a snowball's chance

A Snowball's Chance

A Snowball’s Chance...

Collapsing on the learner's slope at Aspen
I skied downhill into Hell.
I can recall as my aneurism burst,
Clutching snow; then an acrid smell.

The devil came striding toward me.
Still feeling mortal, I did as mortals do:
I squeezed the icy crystals into a ball
And, hard as I could, I threw!

It melted as it left my phantom fingers
Resolving into a dew.
Satan cackled, "Son! The fun has just begun!
Every cliché here comes true!"

David Alpaugh

David Alpaugh's first collection, Counterpoint, won the Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize from Story Line Press. Journals that have published his poetry include Evergreen Review, The Formalist, Light, Poetry, Raintown Review, Rattle, The HyperTexts, and Zyzzyva. His essays—"The Professionalization of Poetry" and "What's Really Wrong with Poetry Book Contests"—have been widely discussed on and off line.

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