Snow Berms

Up there the evergreens
Stand fresh and fragrant
Down here is sediment

From our grinding and going

Down here is everything
We belch from our cars
And kick up from our tires
Embedded in a late winter scab

Down here if we pick at it
It only spreads more
And encrusts our excesses
In crunchy crystals

Down here are barriers
Between street and sidewalk
Neighbor and neighbor
Asphalt and shrub

Up there the sky
Is clueless with clouds
Down here I hunch
And shuffle and slide