I don't usually write of our weather, but Wednesday turned out quite a different day, evidence that climate change is happening. We set a record! For me in Colorado, daylight savings time ushered in a strange welcome to this 'almost' springtime. We do have big snows sometime, but this was different.
On Tuesday I spent a lot of time at a park, then returned with my granddaughter Ingrid to walk and admire geese on the pond, climb trees, then get ice cream. It was about 60 degrees. On Wednesday, it started raining in the night, began snowing about 9 am, and then the blizzard hit. The city was rather shut down, am sorry that (I imagine) that groceries and coffee shops may have stayed open, but every school, every museum, etc. closed. It was called a #bombcyclone and snowed all day till dark. I did go out to shake the trees as much as I could, but realized this was not fluff, but blown-in ice balls. Only some fell. Many lost their power. I am fortunate because all the power lines around are underground. I was okay, did not need to go anywhere, and hope everyone, even if sliding off the road, ended up okay.
Now, today, seems as if it didn't happen, though I know some still do not have power back, and some endured a miserable time stuck on the side of some highways, or ended up stuck at the airport. The sun was out, much has melted.
I'm still celebrating women, and wanted to tell about an older anthology I picked up long ago. I do not remember where, but it is lovely. Published in London first in 1990, then in 1991 in the US. The anthologists, Susanna Styles and Morag Styles, write that they began collecting years before, realized that the book would not only be for young people of 9-13, but for all ages. And it is a gem, filled with poems by women and girls of many cultures.
You will recognize the poet names of Eve Merriam ("On the pad of my thumb"), Nikki Giovanni ("they always said "what a pretty little girl you are"), Charlotte Zolotow ("It is only I/who have changed.", Karla Kuskin ("And the hollow of night/Fills up with dreams:"), Aileen Fisher ("The day is warm/and a breeze is blowing, the sky is blue/and its eye is glowing"), Gwendolyn Brooks ("Hello, little sister,/Coming through the rim of the world.", Jane Yolen (Sleep, little wriggler,"), Valerie Worth (Hollyhocks stand in clumps/By the doors of old cottages.) and Maya Angelou ("When you see me sitting quietly/Like a sack left on the shelf,/Don't think I need your chattering./I'm listening to myself.".
Like that taste? There is more! Also included are poems by children and traditional chants and rhymes from North America, Ireland, Japan and Africa.
The book divides into eight sections, from Here I Am!, girls and women writing about themselves, through Telling Tales which includes songs, ballads and stories to the ending A New Day Dawning, hopes for the future. If you can find it, I hope you enjoy it all. Here is a taste from Here I Am!.
A few powerful words for this time in girls' and women's lives.
I May, I Might, I Must
If you will tell me why the fen
appears impassable, I then
will tell you why I think that I
can get across it if I try.
Marianne Moore