To Life and Lafo

/ Fran Haley

A haiku story poem inspired by today’s prompt over at Ethical ELA, with thanks to Amber, our host.

The snow is too cold
and powdery for packing
but it’s the first time

in her three sweet years
we’ve had enough snow to try
making a snowman.

We scrape buckets full
as her little hands turn red.
She has no mittens.

I give her my own.
They’re far too big and floppy
but she doesn’t mind.

Face aglow with glee
she lugs the snow bucket to
her big sister who

creates a snow-heap.
Shifting, slippery, shapeless…
but we still love it

our tiny snow-mound.
Red and green Hershey’s Kisses
make a shiny smile.

Green olives for eyes.
A tiny tomato nose
(I’m out of carrots).

She proudly chooses
these facial features herself,
bringing her snowman

to life. I find twigs for arms
under the pines and Sister
crafts a tuft of hair

out of pine needles.
We name our snow-dwarf Lafo
(Olaf’s name scrambled).

Lafo has few days
as temperatures go back
to the seventies.

Traces of him stay
longer than I expected.
The Kisses fall off

and I salvage them
(as wild creatures shouldn’t eat
foil and chocolate).

Each day, the remains
of Lafo remind me of
my beloved girls

and that our time here
together is brief as snow.
Let us pack it well.

Our little Lafo

*******
with thanks also to the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life community

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8 thoughts on “To Life and Lafo”

  3. Fran, Lafo is just a perfect metaphor for the time we have here, together with our littles, making memories. This picture is priceless. The Hershey Kisses mouth is so much better than little lumps of coal, and the tomato nose is far truer than any carrot ever was. Olive eyes are just perfect. So much love in these lines. I hope you are making a book of all these memories with your granddaughters so that they will be able to treasure it for years and years and years to come.

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  5. OK, I’m so glad I came here to see this too. Lafo is just such a darling! I so love this story and what it reminds us to be and do with our time with our precious grandchildren.

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  7. Total delight and whimsy and wisdom in your slice, Fran! Every time I read it, I notice something new. Your compound words (snow-heap, snow-mound, snow-dwarf), the lovely alliteration with the snowy sounds (shifting, slippery, shapeless), the sheer delight you experienced with the grands, and your metaphor for living (…our time here
    together is brief as snow. Let us pack it well.)

    Thanks for sharing Lafo, your girls, and this precious experience with us!

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