Last Snow Day

In the year without a summer, the last snow day was indeterminate

April snow is not unheard of
In Portland, Maine;
Even on May 11,
Half a foot might fall
On an ordinary yet
Record setting year.

But the year of 1816
Maine and New Jersey
Pennsylvania and Virginia
In fact the entire country and
The broader world
Had an entire summer of snow days,
A harvest of ice
After a volcano blocked the sun.

We think of the hot lava,
The ash in Indonesia,
The famine in India,
And for our great, great grandparents
The stroke of a single year’s harvest gone
Like a missed paycheck, an eviction,
A day without a meal.

We are mostly not farmers anymore
In 2025, but the fear of famine,
Of chaotic, uncontrollable events
Strikes us like a cold wind
From which we may never go inside.

We stay inside for fear of the cold,
Another day before we have to face it-
The last snow day.

https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/1816-the-year-without-summer.htm