list of spring: e.e. cummings--goblin valley--the anti-sonnet

we go to goblin valley every winter when it's just about spring

i'm in list mode.

lists seem very spring-like to me, when sustained thought becomes suddenly

uncontrollably

difficult,

and the schizophrenia of the season is reflected in the skipping from thought to thought, the move from thick grey tights covered in over the knee stockings and boots (what i wore last night to a friend's snowy cabin in provo canyon)

to bare legs and a skirt (what i wore yesterday afternoon)

to tights and sandals and a dress (what i wore to church this morning)

within one twenty four hour period--

here are ten things that mean spring's coming in utah:

1)  a day trip to goblin valley

2) teaching my two-week locavore cooking class at walden--here's a post from our blog from march 2010

3) e.e. cummings ((the very anti-sonnet of him))

(speaking of sonnets, read this hilarious onion article on the n.e.a.'s funding of the 1.3 million dollar sonnet)

4) eggs, asparagus, and strawberries

5) planning our annual spring break trip to visit my peeps in arizona

6) last year i planted a garden for the first time--so maybe gardening will become a permanent feature of spring? i'm not so good at this, but maybe i'll become?

7) writing more--i get feverish with ideas this time of year

8) sandals--i start looking at sandals obsessively--my favorite footwear--so glad we can wear them with tights these days--a perfect hybrid of seasons--and the girls in locavore always start busting them out during our two-week march inter-session--

9) snowy mountains/sunny valley--i love a sunny day over a white mountain

10) shedding punctuation--trying to avoid the closure of the period in favor of the freedom of the dickinsonian dash, the cummingsesque airy spaces -- the freedom of the bare leg at last--

                    --something like     

                                                  this    cummings   here:

[in Just-]

[in Just-]

in Just-

spring          when the world is mud-

luscious the little

lame balloonman

whistles          far          and wee

and eddieandbill come

running from marbles and

piracies and it's

spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer

old balloonman whistles

far          and             wee

and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it's

spring

and

         the

                  goat-footed

balloonMan          whistles

far

and

wee

legwear:  charcoal tights, black wedge sandals

inspirations:  dashes and air

looking forward:  after church road trip to some small utah town