<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Coal Shovel </p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> <b class=""> </b> </p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">My effortless touch of the wall device </p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">then the whoosh of the furnace’s start </p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">brought my father close this morning</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">No thermostat or gas heat for him<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></p><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">His was a coal burning hot air gravity furnace</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">a behemoth in the center of the basement</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">an octopus with its many asbestos<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">arms clinging to the basement ceiling</p><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Winter mornings from bedroom to cellar</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Dad trudged down worn wooden steps</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">always hopeful for some remaining fire</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">in the beast’s hungry gut</p><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A look through the little window<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">then he’d swing open the sometimes hot</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">often cold cast iron door</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">the screech and clang our first hint of morning</p><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Then rattle and shake the massive grate</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">white ash falling like heavy snow</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">to the tray below then ah-hah<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">there a glowing coal from last night’s feeding <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></p><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Now the massive coal shovel scraped the cement floor</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">and the sound of that scrape, abrasive and shrill <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">leaped up the steps and every cold morning</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">woke us all, young and old </p><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The inferno now safely raging</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Dad closed the furnace door with a bang</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">that bang Mom’s signal to pour his coffee</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">that clang our last wake up bell</p><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Our call to hot oat meal and flannel shirts</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">mackinaw jackets and hockey caps</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">four buckle overshoes and hand knit mittens<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">and maybe, just maybe enough snow</p><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Enough dry snow for a Saturday morning thrill</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">sliding and screaming down the neighbor’s hill</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">on Donnie’s Flexible Flyer sled</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">with steel runners that curved up the back</p><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">If we had the snow but no Donnie</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">as sometimes happened - flying hell bent </p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">with no control the scoop shovel </p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">found a new life with my brother and I</p><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">For a few moments on cold winter mornings</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">free for a time from my dad’s strong hands</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">and away from the inferno that started all our days</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">that battered shovel was the fastest thing in Iowa</p><div class=""><br class=""></div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> </span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> - Doug von Koss</span><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div></div></body></html>