"Black Snow"

"falling in Austria and the Himalayas,deliquescing into the dirt of Russia, unloading its burden of soot and dustfrom the coal plants, the coalfields and pits of Prokopyevsk, Kiselevsk, Leninsk-Kuznetski,their soldiers deliquescing into the local cemetery, returned from Afghanistan, Chechnya, Ukraine- blacksnow, the words sound so pretty, like black apples from Arkansas, or the Black Diamond apple of Tibet,stained purple by sunlight, expensive and rare,"

"or black ice, which is treacherous, near-invisible-words like glory and country, Motherland, Fatherland, what do they mean, does it depend, whatdo they depend on, what tree or cross or bridge hang from while black snow falls on Greenland, its glaciersdeliquescing, another word I love, though not what it means, what it portends, while the windspins another cluster of dead leaves from a limb and a man in a faraway office leaves work for his homeand fire,"

Black snow falls across distant regions, staining landscapes from Austria and the Himalayas to Greenland. Soot and dust from coal plants and mines coat soil and glaciers. Soldiers returned from Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Ukraine are described as deliquescing into a local cemetery. Images of black apples and treacherous black ice contrast beauty and danger. Words like glory, country, Motherland, and Fatherland become uncertain amid pollution and death. Glaciers melt and wind spins dead leaves while a man returns home and watches ice deliquesce into his gin. The stars are charred and the moon becomes a miner's lamp lighting workers descending into the earth.

Read at The New Yorker