Who's a February fan? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
No?
Me neither. And it's only just begun. Hi-ho.
This poem by Bill Christophersen has a delightfully melodramatic approach (I can't read it seriously or I'll want to wither and die) to the month we all love to hate. It has it all: anxiety, insomnia and nightmares, recriminations, and lost hope. Whoosh.
Let's be grateful that February is only 28 days. So, take heart. Nothing lasts forever, not even February.
February
by Bill Christophersen
The cold grows colder, even as the days
grow longer, February's mercury vapor light
buffing but not defrosting the bone-white
ground, crusty and treacherous underfoot.
This is the time of year that's apt to put
a hammerlock on a healthy appetite,
old anxieties back into the night,
insomnia and nightmares into play;
....
(Read the rest here, at The Poetry Foundation.)
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Jone Rush MacCulloch is hosting the roundup this week.
(Photo courtesy of Benjamin Lehman and Pexels.)
10 comments:
Great ending! Strangely enough, I don't have anything against February. Hot cocoa, making valentines, celebrating poet birthdays (Molly's, Michelle's, Laura's, and I'm blanking on others). January was pretty exhausting and took forever to get through.
The February blahs seem to be going around. I wouldn't mind it so much if we just had a little more sunshine and blue skies. Have your read Michelle's February poem yet? It is a match for this one.
I can't share your hatred for February, because I have a BIRTHDAY this month! :-)
Reminds me of Ezra Pound's Winter is Icumen In... which always made us laugh when we were young. Then we lived in MN for 15 years. Ouch. All that aside, my oldest son's birthday is in Febr, so I can't hate it!
February is historically our snowiest month & I must say this time that we really need it! This time I also remind that last February was our most recent "regular" month, the time when hints of virus had started, but we were still going, going, going. However, the cold gets to me sometimes & I depend on the hot tea & candles to pep me up! I love that ending, Karen, the last straw? "and hope's a reptile waiting for the sun."
This poem is quite an indictment of February, but there is good news, the days are longer. Actually March in Syracuse where I live is worse it seems, even drearier!
What a fun poem. I’ve never considered February as being an awful month, too short. But March...when I was teaching seemed forever, no holidays after for months where school had lots of days off. And spring break always at the end of March or first week of April.
Oh, gosh, I don't usually hate February, but I'm enjoying the dramatic reactions this month has evoked for various bloggers and poets! I love "February's mercury vapor light
buffing but not defrosting the bone-white
ground"
and that ending. Wow.
Magnificent poetic offering for the times, Karen - and I cracked up at your post's opening reference to Ferris Bueller. It is certainly the time of year that seems monotonous and long. Thank you for the reminder that February is, in fact, short. :)
Tabatha, Ruth, and Karen - I love your positive, birthday-filled take on February. :) (And Ruth, I remember that from years past! Happy birthday!)
Kay, I need to go read Michelle's Feb. poem right now.
Linda, yes, I'm still into candles and hot tea (or coffee....) to get through this time of year.
Janice and Jone, I hear you about March. :)
Laura, I would have pegged you for a non-hater of February (you have to be extremely tough, living where you do ;)) so thanks for appreciating the community's shared, dramatic aversion anyway!
Fran, I'm happy to have offered you a laugh in the early days of this bleak month. :)
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