A tip o’ the hat is due to Ted Kooser and the American Life in Poetry project for this week’s poem, because I don’t think I would have found it otherwise. Thomas R. Moore’s “Removing the Dross” is a poem about snow shoveling, particularly apropos given the arctic freeze in North America this week.
The speaker’s father has a particular method of shoveling, so precise that it reminded me of a Hemingway hero’s expertise in camping. The imagery, diction, and rhythm of the poem come together in a particularly satisfying way.
Let me know what you think! Favorite lines or images?
Rosemary and Reading Glasses 
I really like this one, too. It is so vivid.
Hooray!
Nice one. I always think of (and worry about) my almost 80 y/o dad shoveling on days like this.
Lots of great imagery especially in the second half, but the last stanza is my favorite:
blocks with the waxed blade, lifted
and tossed, lifted and tossed again,
squaring off against the snow.
I like the repetition of “lifted and tossed,” just like shoveling, and as the poster wrote, the double entendre of “squaring off.” đ
My 92-year-old grandpa still snowblows his own driveway. He’s awesome.
I like that stanza too! Ted Kooser picks the poems for ALP — he’s a former poet laureate himself. đ
So beautiful, I love how evocative few words can be!
I’m happy you liked the poem! Thank you for stopping by!
YouÂŽre very welcome! lad to ave found a good blog, keep posting đ