And here is the missing bookend poem to compliment this...it went AWOL but returned like a prodigal son by turning up iniside the front cover of a book on memory.

********
SNOWBALL WARS!


Use a shiny blue megaphone
to magnify the menace

in my voice.

My snarl barks curt commands

as authentic as
any movie scene I've seen

with a Rod Steiger fat ugly cop
tone.

'We know you're in there! '

'We've got the house surrounded! '

'You don't stand a chance! '

'Give yourself up & come out with
yer hands out! '

And, it's true:

I have ringed the house
with an army of snowmen

(some better trained than others)  

others a little shaky
nothing more than half-made rookies.

Their nasty little coal black eyes
trained on the door

a snowball in each of
their twitchy twiggy fingers

more for effect than
actual firepower.

I command
from behind the line.

My little pyramid
of snowballs at the ready

waits eagerly at my right hand
longing to be thrown.

A tense suspenseful
second that seems to last for ever

then suddenly
you emerge

a human blur
dashing from the door

like the last freeze frame from
BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID.

My army of snowmen
are caught on the hop

frozen to the spot
not expecting the unexpected.

'What now...boss? '
they scream

losing their nerve.

You are armed
to the teeth

with snowballs
frozen from the fridge

one or two snowmen
have already lost their heads

another his his snowball
shot from his hand

as you break through
the cordon

determined to take me
down.

Get me
(you reckon)  

& all the snowmen
will just cave in

turn
& run.

Your lipstick
yells redly

(voice made visible)  

I take a snowball
to the heart

fall in almost
slow motion

as you leap upon me

kiss me

...to death!