Reflections on March in Illinois

The snow, ice, slush, and cold have slowed down my dog walks this month. Dolly dog adjusts to strolls on the ice, but when we come back to the driveway, she's ready to run to the back yard for a few spins in the snow. The trails look like a game we played in Michigan. I think it was called the Fox and Geese. As children we cleared out round paths in the snow and designated a fox to chase the remaining geese toward home.

Winters in Michigan were long and frozen, so much so that even fresh out of West Virginia, Mom let my sister and me wear pants under our dresses after seeing our bright red knees between skirt and knee socks. This late Illinois winter brings up memories of snow forts and ice skating on the football field in Eaton Rapids. It also sparked a silly poem:

O Illinois

I’m sending you a Hollywood postcard

a Collateral[1] lush island visor

a Dark City[2] Shell Beach nightmare

a six-year-old’s walk

on packed sand

bending for green sea glass

stretching toward gorged pelicans

climbing a palmetto lined sea wall

when the sun blisters.

In a neighbor’s yard

dogs race around a collapsed pool.

A boxer jumps a fence

landing in soft snow.

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[1] Collateral. Dir. Michael Mann. Perf. Tom Cruise, Jamie Fox. Paramount, 2004. DVD.

[2] Dark City. Dir. Alex Proyas. Perf. Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly. New Line Cinema, 1998. DVD.