2 December 2002 | Vol. 2, No. 4

A Last Reminder

by ROBERT GIBBONS

Last day of winter won't disappoint. Rain one degree from the gentleness of snow rides the added chill of March wind bruising skin blue, or red, dreary, dismal. Olson called it dour. You'd have to be touched to want 70 degrees, & giddiness. Give us all a last reminder of how we're going to spend the bulk of our days. Pretty dark down there, & dank. Out there in the distance at the tip of the Hull peninsula, the new-age windmill is a single prop-engine ready to take off, but the sky above & behind it is pure Dutch, pure Jacob van Ruisdael. This sea's not as rough as his rough seas, but the clouds are as good as his nautical views, matching even the best ones, those premonitory clouds of The Jewish Cemetery. Tomorrow at 2:16 in the afternoon at the equinox we can smile a smile of glee & optimism, but until then let's stay in the character of the season.