{"id":20560,"date":"2018-01-06T09:23:11","date_gmt":"2018-01-06T14:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=20560"},"modified":"2018-01-08T09:40:18","modified_gmt":"2018-01-08T14:40:18","slug":"twenty-five-below","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2018\/01\/06\/twenty-five-below\/","title":{"rendered":"Twenty-five below"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo:<\/a>

Photo: Max Pixel<\/a>, public domain<\/p><\/div>\n

Calling it cold doesn’t quite cover it. One more night into the double-digits below zero and then finally the temperatures will start to go back up. It’s been a long time to just call it a “snap.” Mostly, folks just hunker down or venture out only as far as the drive to start the car – (if it will start) – then back in to warm up while the engine warms up, too.<\/p>\n

But it can also have a mysterious allure, especially at night, in the clear air under the big moon, that can draw one out the door. Here’s a new poem for\u00a0a\u00a0bone-cold night.<\/p>\n

\n

Twenty-five below<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I walk out into dope-slap cold
\nclad in a space-suit of layers
\nunder sparking stars, bold
\nbeside an arc lamp moon.
\nAll silent, but for creaking snow
\nand cracking trees which loom,
\nmaking unintelligible gestures,
\nblack against midnight blue.<\/p>\n

Somewhere I saw it written,
\nin the hieroglyphs of frost
\nwhich crept across the window,
\nin the snow code\u00a0mice write
\nin panic under shadow
\nof the owl. Some message only
\nmoonlight unveils, only walking
\nwakes, only cold makes plain.<\/p>\n

Breathing daggers, exhaling smoke,
\nI shamble across the back yard
\ncasting about for the arcane sign,
\nto find a doe a-shiver in the sumac
\nwho startles back into pine.
\nStartled, too, I step back toward
\nthe distant porch light’s shine.
\nI could catch my death out here.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Calling it cold doesn’t quite cover it. One more night into the double-digits below zero […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[6128,14],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20560"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20560"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20576,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20560\/revisions\/20576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}