Winter

A North Dakota winter frightens people.  They cannot imagine the snow.  They could not bear the cold.  It must be terribly dreadful to be trapped inside with no spring in sight. Many things in life challenge me, but this is not one of them.  I suppose I have the right combination of traits and tricks to help me survive.  For one, I'm the kind of person who forgets that things are easier elsewhere.  I'm also an introvert who doesn't mind being left alone.  Getting out in the cold isn't so hard if you layer up and get a good pair of boots.  And here's my big secret: I eat spring rolls with lots of fresh mint almost every day for lunch.  It may be winter outside, but it's summer in my mouth.  

It is no surprise that winter is hard on us. We are creatures of comfort, and winter offers few amenities.  It's difficult to ignore discomfort, but what if we could stand with our legs deep in snow, wind biting at our backs, our faces raw with cold, and just for a moment---forget ourselves.  What would we see? Winter would be as winter is: wind-blown peaks of crusted snow, "trees shagged with ice," and cold that has been cold since winter was born.  



The Snow Man
by Wallace Stevens

One must have a mind of winter 
To regard the frost and the boughs 
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow; 

And have been cold a long time 
To behold the junipers shagged with ice, 
The spruces rough in the distant glitter 

Of the January sun; and not to think 
Of any misery in the sound of the wind, 
In the sound of a few leaves, 

Which is the sound of the land 
Full of the same wind 
That is blowing in the same bare place 

For the listener, who listens in the snow, 
And, nothing himself, beholds 
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is. 

Read the poem out loud, and listen.  Everything is perfect.  Every word is where it should be.  Yes, it sounds beautiful, but what does the poem mean?  It is as I described above. It is what happens when we stand in nature and cease to be.  When all our preferences and desires are stilled, we no longer exist.  I suppose that is why people must complain about a North Dakota winter.  Preferences and desires are what make us sentient.

photo link

Want to learn more about this poem?  Listen to MIT linguistics professor Jay Keyser in this NPR LINK (it's only 3 minutes long).  He claims "The Snow Man" is the best short poem in the English language.  He even diagramed it and made the poem into a hanging mobile. 

Erin, can you diagram this single sentence poem?  
You can check your work here:  Diagram of "The Snow Man"