Kicking and Screaming Toward a Fanciful Season

Painting by Norman Rockwell

kicking and screaming toward a fanciful season

kicking and screaming toward a fanciful season
the year drags me
kicking and screaming
toward winter
never ready to stand on cold feet
slush sprayed over me by lurching taxi cabs
I still haven’t found my red gloves
and I don’t want to wear that
serviceable warm coat
I’d rather wear the one with the flattering cut
and the not serviceable boots
the kind that men turn to look at
and well I never much liked being cold and
I’ve slipped on sidewalks
more times than I'd like to remember
winter steals my dignity

though when I was a kid
I didn't care about dignity
much
or the cold
forgotten
in the fervour of intense play
outside so long
your legs would sting like a thousand pins
were pricking them when you came in
but mom would have hot chocolate in the cupboard
the kind made with milk in a pan on the stove
in the stove light and
you got new flannel pyjamas
with that sweet smell that went away
after the first wash but they got softer
and Mr. P. on the corner
would put up Christmas lights all over his yard

I never went for such an ostentatious show
when I grew up
but man could my old house get pretty
smelling like pine
cedar
and cinnamon
all that oak trim aglow
against the frost laced windows
and indigo tinted atmosphere in the street
the furnace would kick in
like a benevolent grandpa
when you came in the front door
after chatting with the neighbours
while we shovelled the sidewalks
and the walks of the old people
a job I loved
it made me feel strong and capable -
that most satisfying exercise
and full of that proverbial good cheer
I think it's the pink cheeks
dreamy
under the descending flakes
under the incandescent street lights
later I’d sit by the pretty old windows
admiring the street and generous porches
and warm lights coming from the windows behind them
recalling life in the country
when the snowstorms that bound everyone
in for a few days
were the best ones

I am always kicking and screaming
going toward winter
but

I fancy it when I get there

Jennifer Morrison

Posted over on her site Jen's Realia
Listed as #71 over on Magpie Tales 43