JESSICA TODD

 

Fresh Snow

 
I have been watching and re-watching YouTube 
footage of a train ploughing through deep snow 
in Arthur’s Pass, on its way to Christchurch. 
 
I watch for its silence. Then, for its whiteness, 
when the snow hits the camera. 
 
Nothing else has touched the snow. It obscures 
the machinery, softens its hard edges, 
creates delay. It sounds like, ‘Shhh’. 
 
It sounds far away. The train is a dog with its snout 
on the trail. The train cannot hurt anyone now. 
It is soft as pillows. It is trying not to wake 
the trees that are sleeping under the weight 
of all that snow. So, quietly. So quietly, it goes. 

Listen to Jessica Todd read ‘Fresh Snow

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jessica Todd completed an MA in Creative Writing at the IIML in 2013.