Today (February 2) those of us with roots in Pennsylvania join enthusiasts from everywhere as we look to mythical groundhog Punxsutawney Phil for a forecast concerning prolonged winter or early spring. This morning Phil's forecast was bleak but not unexpected: we will have six more weeks of winter.
This news that our winter is only half over has led me to a poem (found in the illustrated anthology Talking to the Sun, edited by Kenneth Koch and Kate Farrell, published in 1985 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art):
Another Sarah by Anne Porter (1911-2011)
for Christopher Smart
When winter was half over
God sent three angels to the apple-tree
Who said to her
"Be glad, you little rack
Of empty sticks,
Because you have been chosen.
In May you will become
A wave of living sweetness
A nation of white petals
A dynasty of apples."
Another winter poem by Porter with a bit of mathematics is included in this post for 25 November 2012.
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