Shoveling Snow with Buddha

Shoveling Snow with Buddha by Billy Collins in his poem collection ‘Picnic, Lightning’ might be, at first glance, about a man shoveling snow with Buddha. But through Collins’ humor and wit, we discover it is about a different subject matter, more prominent than we realize. Indeed, the action of shoveling snow out of the driveway is practicing religion itself. The determination “Buddha keeps on shoveling” and the will “purpose of existence” portrayed are reflective of the power of faith in any religion. To add to that, the fact that Billy Collins chose to humanize a God such as Buddha is a tool to get the reader an accessibility to the divine that is often deprived from him in religious works; he could perhaps be the man shoveling snow with his God. Furthermore, Buddha seems to be portrayed as a well-respected being that is humble “All morning long we work side by side”. At last, the poem is suggesting that the goal of Buddhism is enlightenment, for the narrator truly feels illuminated by shoveling snow.