The Vocabulary of Melting

The Vocabulary of Melting

The casts of tracks form ice sculptures on the path,
bike tires and bunny feet, snow boots and squirrel toes.
They are guardrails for unexpected bubbles
half-domed on the pavement and glistening in the sun.

These little miracles of the temporary thaw
are only distant cousins of bubblegum hijinks
and dish soap accidents—they deserve their own name.
Wubble? Frobble? Thawble? Someone please rectify this.

And while we’re at it, we need a word for when
the sun winks in flirtation on a gray day,
then blinks groggily the next, until it gazes down
lovingly enough to set the thaw in motion.

One more too, for when the roof ice crackles
and snow sheets tumble and crash. A word between
snowfall and waterfall, when a little becomes a lot,
a rising intensity, a trickle turned flood—
a word to inspire us when we feel frozen.

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Doodle reference photo: “Eating snow” by Bruno Bolzano