Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Months Cruel and Kind

Each April, at least once, I think of the T.S. Eliot quote about April being the cruelest month.  I don't usually think of it in terms of taxes; happily, my tax situation is rarely that interesting.  Even this past year, when we moved from Florida, a state with no state income tax, to North Carolina, a state that does tax income, it was fairly straight forward, even though state tax wasn't withheld.

In earlier years, April has seemed cruel because summer crashes the spring celebrations; the heat comes much too early.  In my adult life, I've never lived in a place where the weather turns cold again--until now.

The seminary switched the buildings from heat to AC last week, which makes sense.  But yesterday, I was feeling a bit chilly.  I looked at the sunshine and decided to take a walk.  The brisk wind that cut right through me made me change my mind.

You might ask, "Why don't you wear a coat?"  I left my coats in North Carolina.  We'd had weeks of warm weather, and I thought I wouldn't need them.

And I really don't.  It will warm up again soon.  I can wear layers.  Still, I'm noticing it.  

On a writing related note, I went back to my blog and did a search for T.S. Eliot--had I written about April being a cruel month before?

Not as much as I might think.  Some of the blog posts contained an evocative line or two, and I copied them into a blank Word doc.  Perhaps I will play with them later.

Here are a few, if you want to play.  Each line could be a stanza.  Or maybe they go together as a poem as is.  Or maybe . . . 

I have not yet mastered all my moods.


Why should I even bother blues

 

The older I get, the more I shrug


Every season a hinge


With reckless abandon, we plant flowers.


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