January Thaw

Yet another rainy day

In a Winter that has never

Stopped feeling like November

Grey-limb and grassy lawn

Wet copper leaves under the oak

Everything that had been for a moment

Icy and hard today is flowing down the street

Pooling in puddles 

And splashing up nonsense of 

Hauling out umbrellas in January

Standing here by the rain-streaked window 

Reminiscing on how it used to be

I feel something move, my anger melt away 

My disappointment in the audacity 

Of this warm day I would not have chosen

Release my hard-wired ideas of what Winter 

Should be like up here in the North Country

Step onto the slippery sidewalk

Soaked in the vulnerable uncertainty of 

A season unfamiliar to itself

Where everything melted

Into a softer ground 

A muddier and messier 

More relaxed and gentler version 

Of myself