Conditions Hazardous
Overnight, a thin sheet of ice
coats the sidewalks;
it’s time for my grippiest shoes,
my warmest coat and gloves.
I haul the heavy bucket
of salt and grit down our battered
wooden steps (carefully, carefully!)
(“Walk like a penguin! Balls of your feet!”
I remind the children as I drop them
at school — grateful I could drive them today,
not risk thirty minutes traversing icy sidewalks.)
Down the front walk (smiling at the dog-
walking woman who smiles approval
at me), down to the sidewalk.
Salting as I go, progress slow but steady,
do not forget little walkways to the road,
the thin strip where someone exiting
their car might skid and fall, cracking
their head against the ceramic birdbath
in the hellstrip garden. A second pass,
making sure salt and grit is tossed
wide enough to clear the entire path,
wide enough for a wheelchair to pass,
or two friends, pushing strollers side by side.
I do not get credit for this — this is required,
this is the bare minimum of civic duty.
If I have the privilege of owning a home,
I must keep the walkways clear for everyone.
Labor for the common good. It is a privilege
to serve the community. Salt the walks.
Call your representatives. Remind them,
without our neighbors’ help,
we all fall down.
Mary Anne Mohanraj
2/6/25, 18 days since inauguration.
