Yesterday evening, my husband chided
that I see everything as a chore.
Do not, I snapped,
 
as he marveled in the lovely walk
home with the groceries,
his eyes on the pink glow the sunset
 
cast upon the littered highway.
I sulked against his grand statements
like a weakening paper sack.
 
What if all we’re given in this life
is work? What then? And why this morning,
in my pre-work hustle —
 
ironing, packing my lunch, trying to eat
a nutritious breakfast while standing up —
do I remember last night’s dream:
 
a hush of deep snow covers the town
and I drift from window to window,
beholding the work of the ice
 
on each pane. All the swirling flowers.
So many delicate stars.

Jennifer Fandel is a UW-Eau Claire alumna whose poetry has been published in The American Journal of Poetry, Measure, The Baltimore Review, and RHINO, as well as a number of anthologies including Hope Is the Thing: Wisconsinites on Hope and Resilience in the Time of Covid-19 (Wisconsin Historical Society Press). Her poem “The Father” just received first place in the Wisconsin People & Ideas contest. “Snow Day” first appeared in Third Wednesday Journal, 2013. Read more of her work here.