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During a bleak winter, us kids in the backseat,
skidding down an icy hill toward a mammoth,
dirty snowbank, we nearly pancake the family
car, but our mum—cool as a racetrack driver—
steers us on top of
that cold cushion of snow where
we finally halt
Keep calm and carry on was the only way
to survive the London Blitz in WWII, avoiding
psychological meltdown, so Mumsie won’t ever
get hysterical, like clichéd “silly” women; instead,
foils snow with courage
forged from unholy terrors
and her valiant heart
Alison Jennings is a Seattle-based poet who taught in public schools before returning to poetry. She’s had a mini chapbook and 125 other poems published in numerous journals—including Cathexis Northwest Press, Mslexia, Poetic Sun, Red Door, and Society of Classical Poets—plus been a semi-finalist in several contests.