A poet and a cold front

 I could tell you that I lit a fire in the fireplace for the first time this season, but this is better: 

The first cold front came in

whining like a carpenter’s plane

and curled the warm air

up the sky: winter is

for busy work; summer

for construction.

 

That’s Alan Dugan, 1923-2003, a native of New York. Down South, the concept of seasons is a bit different. I’ve saved some of the heavy work for cooler weather. Dugan and I agree that spring is for planting and fall is for harvest.

Dugan is a new poet for me, and I’m still poking around the Poetry Foundation’s site. Thanks, Christopher, for providing the introduction.

• Source: Alan Dugan, “Winter’s Onset from an Alienated Point of View”; Poetry, April 1963, Vol. 102, No. 1, p. 11. It’s here:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?volume=102&issue=1&page=17