{"id":19625,"date":"2022-03-15T20:41:50","date_gmt":"2022-03-16T00:41:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/?p=19625"},"modified":"2022-03-22T22:57:59","modified_gmt":"2022-03-23T02:57:59","slug":"pondering-ann-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/2022\/03\/15\/pondering-ann-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"PONDERING ANN: II"},"content":{"rendered":"

FIFTH SEASON<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Just give me one more season<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

so I can figure out the other four.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

-John Prine<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Summer ends, the last lights of<\/span><\/p>\n

the late dusk dripping across\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

heat wilted river lilies, while\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

the hummingbird dances a few<\/span><\/p>\n

swoops for the remaining sweet,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

for the last hurrah, the last zing\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

on by.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/span>We turn to fall in shades of\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

amber, goldenrod funneling\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

pollen through the breeze, each<\/span><\/p>\n

sneeze assured. The palms grow<\/span><\/p>\n

cold, the mittens tucked away\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

are finally called\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

upon.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The dark is also the cold, and the\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

months stretch long into a white<\/span><\/p>\n

desert once the evergreen has<\/span><\/p>\n

been strewn to the curbside for\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

pickup, holidays passed. There<\/span><\/p>\n

were few ghosts to show for it,<\/span><\/p>\n

though we long for the sing-<\/span><\/p>\n

song spirits which once dotted<\/span><\/p>\n

the Douglas fir, the now-stripped<\/span><\/p>\n

oak.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After frost we tap the maples,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

draining sap into condenser bags\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

careful so as not to spill, so as not\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

to rain liquid gold upon the turning\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

mosses, driving themselves\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

slowly out of the ashen claws of\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Winter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/span>Though syrup is sweet, sap\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

alone crawls across the tongue\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

like cement dries in the tepid sun,<\/span><\/p>\n

leaving teeth to grit themselves<\/span><\/p>\n

against the adhesive liquid devoid\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

of any saccharine\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

sweet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Spring,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

of minds between, is much the\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

same. Sand lines the snowbank,<\/span><\/p>\n

etched by tire grease and boot<\/span><\/p>\n

tracks. The boys have gone to<\/span><\/p>\n

work peeling the pavement,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

tearing away the black tar\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

bubbles thrown upwards by\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

ice stowed beneath thawing\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

road. North State is upturned,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

throngs of students abound,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

circumnavigating the newly\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

dug pit. Hardhats align the\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

corners, we are rebuilding.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We are repaving. We will<\/span><\/p>\n

repave again, and again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then maybe one more\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

time. No\u2014\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FIFTH SEASON   Just give me one more season so I can figure out the other four. -John Prine   Summer ends, the last lights of the late dusk dripping across\u00a0 heat wilted river lilies, while\u00a0 the hummingbird dances a few swoops for the remaining sweet,\u00a0 for the last hurrah, the last zing\u00a0 on by.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2256,"featured_media":19454,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19625"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2256"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19625"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19698,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19625\/revisions\/19698"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}