I love winter, but I always find myself forgetting how hard the season can feel. Grey days stretching on. Cold keeping people inside and isolated.

But every now and then we get a blue sky day. The sun makes its way through the clouds and down to us.

The morning light from the east warms me as I drink my coffee. The setting sun to the southwest casts shadows on the dining room wall.

I notice the light more in the winter season. Perhaps because there’s less of it.

I imagine this is true for others. The thankfulness when the sun melts the ice from your car window. The relief when it’s still light after a long day of work. The delight when a sunrise puts on a show, rather than simply revealing a clouded sky.

It’s poetic, the way light marks our day and nights, offers us sight and warmth, makes the seasons known, casts shadows all around us that we can’t ignore.

Consider this poem from W.S. Merwin:

Rain Light

All day the stars watch from long ago
my mother said I am going now
when you are alone you will be all right
whether or not you know you will know
look at the old house in the dawn rain
all the flowers are forms of water
the sun reminds them through a white cloud
touches the patchwork spread on the hill
the washed colors of the afterlife
that lived there long before you were born
see how they wake without a question
even though the whole world is burning

There’s the sense of a specific place in the speaker’s mind and the role light plays, illuminating the passing of time. The sun and the stars, constants, weave lives together.

This week, consider how light marks your days, in your specific places.

What is illuminated? What is in the shadows?

How does it filter through the clouds and trees?

Where were you when the warmth of the sun stopped you in your tracks? When did the moon cause you to look up?

What color was the sky? At dawn? At dusk?

Consider these questions. Notice, and respond in the form of a poem.

I imagine us all moving about the week with heightened awareness of this simple gift, light making the occasional appearance, brightening our homes, warming our skin, welcoming us to our days and tucking us in at night. Our lives all uniquely touched by the winter light.

If you find yourself writing along, please feel free to share your work with me anytime at sklblauren@gmail.com.

My hope is to find a community of writers moving about Racine, noticing, considering, responding, and sharing in this season.

Best,
L.A. Sklba