The Coal Shovel - Doug von Koss

[Larry Robinson]

The Coal Shovel  

                                             

My effortless touch of the wall device 

then the whoosh of the furnace’s start 

brought my father close this morning

No thermostat or gas heat for him 

 
His was a coal burning hot air gravity furnace

a behemoth in the center of the basement

an octopus with its many asbestos 

arms clinging to the basement ceiling

 
Winter mornings from bedroom to cellar

Dad trudged down worn wooden steps

always hopeful for some remaining fire

in the beast’s hungry gut

 
A look through the little window 

then he’d swing open the sometimes hot

often cold cast iron door

the screech and clang our first hint of morning

 
Then rattle and shake the massive grate

white ash falling like heavy snow

to the tray below then ah-hah 

there a glowing coal from last night’s feeding  

 
Now the massive coal shovel scraped the cement floor

and the sound of that scrape, abrasive and shrill   

leaped up the steps and every cold morning

woke us all, young and old 

 
The inferno now safely raging

Dad closed the furnace door with a bang

that bang Mom’s signal to pour his coffee

that clang our last wake up bell

 
Our call to hot oat meal and flannel shirts

mackinaw jackets and hockey caps

four buckle overshoes and hand knit mittens 

and maybe, just maybe enough snow

 
Enough dry snow for a Saturday morning thrill

sliding and screaming down the neighbor’s hill

on Donnie’s Flexible Flyer sled

with steel runners that curved up the back

 
If we had the snow but no Donnie

as sometimes happened - flying hell bent 

with no control the scoop shovel 

found a new life with my brother and I

 
For a few moments on cold winter mornings

free for a time from my dad’s strong hands

and away from the inferno that started all our days

that battered shovel was the fastest thing in Iowa


              - Doug von Koss
 
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