how did we survive back then?

remember the snows

we used

to get when we were young.

two or

three feet deep,

drifts

up to the door.

it was before the plows

came through.

the schools were closed.

how did we survive.

we were down to 

to drinking tap water

and licking

the lids of peanut

butter jars.

we had to unfreeze

the frozen meat

frozen for years,

frosted over in the ice box

and open

up all the cans 

of tuna and spam.

the cereal boxes were empty.

no cookies

no chips,

no pop tarts for the toaster.

we ran out of milk and

bread,

eggs and Pepsi.

we were down to eating

old candy

from Halloween

mostly Mary Janes

gone rock hard.

we did things with crackers

and jelly

we had never

done before.

how did we survive?

it was the hardest two

and a half days

of our young lives.