The Groundhog's Prediction

      Growing up in western Pennsylvania -- on a farm close to Indiana, PA -- I was not far from the town of Punxsutawney and enjoyed celebration each year on February 2 of "Groundhog Day."  On this day a legendary groundhog who has burrowed underground to spend the worst of winter -- near Punxsutawney, PA --  peeks out to test the weather.  If he sees no shadow, spring is on the way BUT if he sees his shadow, he quicky scurries back to his underground refuge, this departure predicting six more weeks of winter.  (Recent publicizing of this event has altered it -- now the groundhog does his shadow-seeing and prediction in front of a large audience.  And it is televised!)

     Today, in her weekly radio broadcast on wpsu, poet Marjorie Maddox offered the slightly mathy Groundhog Day poem "On Gobbler's Knob" by Pittsburgh poet Shirley Stevens (1940-2022).  I offer it below (followed by a link to background information about the poem and the poet).  Alas, today's groundhog has predicted six more winter weeks.

       On Gobbler’s Knob     by Shirley Stevens 

       We gather on the hill outside Punxsutawney
       to draw tight circles against the dark.

       Five thousand strong, we twist and shout
       to circulate blood to our frozen toes,

       then dance “The Pennsylvania Polka,”
       bellow “Roll out the barrel” in the snow.

       At six a.m. comet candles, flares, wheels of light
       burst against the dark, and I think of Stonehenge

       where Druid priests lit bonfires
       against the endless nights.

       Our hopes volley as
       sizzlers salute the whistle pig

       who whispers to the handler in his top hat:
       "Six more weeks.” Winter rules.

             Steven's poem is included in Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania (Penn State University Press, 2005).

Here is a link to mentions of Groundhog Day in previous postings in this blog.