The smell of your own snot,
recirculated air, saliva,
frozen and thawed, over and over
inside a striped, acrylic ski mask.
One-piece, zip-up snowsuits,
the bathroom difficulties they caused,
and resulting accidents (both kinds).
The teeth of someone else’s ice skate
running over your finger on the floor
of the second-grade cloakroom at school.
And yet there was also the brick-walled kitchen,
the radio on cold, dark mornings, playing
country music—any port in a storm—

Elvirup! (it sounded like)
Oom papa oom papa oom papa mau mau.

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Today’s Poem a Day Chapbook Challenge prompt was to write a poem about displeasure or pleasure.