Summer's gone, winter's comin' on

Morning News Route
By GC SMITH

Five a.m. on a winter morning
I’m up; I’m dressed: I’m out
I have newspapers to deliver

Bright moonlight reflects
off new fallen snow
silvering frozen city streets

I trudge through the snow
with my canvas sack
banging on my hip

Bare handed,
gloves pocketed,
I fold newspapers

I toss one hundred and ten
TIMES LEADER papers
one by one to porches

By, seven, I’m finished
and scurry on home again
hungry for a hot breakfast

First, frost frozen fingers
must be thawed under
the cold water tap

Then, adolescent appetite appeased
with cocoa and hot, sugared oatmeal
I ‘m ready to trudge off to school

Winter’s were damn cold
back when I was a kid
delivering newspapers