Learning to embrace the cold

A bit of reflection: I haven’t read or written poems— or thought about poems, for that matter, in ages. In fact I probably would have continued my poetry-less existence had the news about the Capitol insurrection never flooded my social media. I remember feeling so disillusioned, tired, and scared of what was happening to our nation that day, when I stumbled upon Emily Dickinson’s “Hope is a thing with feathers”. And I’m absolutely, incredibly in awe of the power of those three stanzas in transforming my mood immediately. With that in mind, I’ve decided to start writing poetry again, in hopes I can one day have that same ability to inspire hope through my words. So here’s to hope. And things with feathers.

One of my favorite places in my town, whether the temperature’s warm or cold.

It’s too cold.

You may laugh at me but

It’s forty degrees and my fingers hover anxiously over the phone, shuttle service on speed dial —

“Hello? This is Nancy. Can you take me home?”

The operator laughs at me

“Are you sure you really need that?”

I close my eyes and picture the walk home:

Five minutes of

Freezing

Trembling

Shivering?

No thank you.

But the voice nags inside me — are you sure you really need that?

I peer outside the library doors and see the lights from my dorm reflecting back at me from five minutes away.

Sigh.

I say no and hang up the phone.

I am an opponent of cold weather

Sometimes I imagine myself as a bear, eating and hibernating

Disappearing for a few months

Then waking up when the warm weather comes back

I cannot bear the cold.

These days, though, it’s different

The quarantine keeps us at home

(I don’t want to stay at home)

So I step outside

One day

I meet a woman who talks to me about appreciating family

And one day

I meet a father who masquerades as a pirate, burying chocolate treasure for his children

And one day

I see the swans napping on the waterline

I see the infinite sky enveloping

All of us

In a giant hug

And I stay outside.

These days, I’ve learned

That cold doesn’t mean the absence of warmth

If it brings people closer.

And my relationship with the cold becomes just

a little

Warmer.