Voting For Weather
Three inches of snow has covered the Wisconsin
ground on this day of our Lord: April 20, 2011.
It's been chilly, difficult to classify as spring.
You might think we'd had quite enough of this.
A majority of my fellow citizens would probably agree.
I'm pretty sure if we held a general election,
spring would triumph over winter in a landslide.
But I'm not certain.
Would it take well-placed banners and clever slogans?
"Spring, you know you want it. Vote for flowers,
the birds and the bees. Vote for spring."
What stick in the ice would vote to extend winter?
A hidden frost line is difficult to expose,
not so straightforward as Fall voting leaves off of trees.
There may be those who believe Boreas should remain
in residence in order to make better people of us all.
For the record, there's plenty of Biblical support for winter.
"He casts forth his ice in fragments."
"And the frost of heaven, who has given it birth."
"From the breath of God ice is made."
Do you think we could trust the voters to get it right?
Maybe it's best we don't get to vote on the weather.
It might turn out to be a dividing issue,
the roots that rupture our shared experience.
—Jim Price, Dresser, WI
