Winter Wonders

We are all a bit stir-crazy and uncertain of ourselves as the pandemic times and their restrictions continue. Every Friday I am rescued and restored for another week by Grassmarket Community Creative Writing Group. You know who you are. Thank you. We have of now been meeting on Zoom for nearly a year.

So we “come in” from different locations, and this morning the check-in conversation got into “have you snow where you are, or just the rain”, etc. The riff off each other was magic, I tried to remember what poem starts with “When icicles hang by the wall“* and L started a limerick, then we all finished it, who said what, unknown.

When icicles hang by the wall
They have a long long way to fall
Stand underneath
and watch your teeth
And hope you swallow it all.

In the middle of so much fun and enjoyment, as well as searching for a prompt to write, we came up with Ice, and Crystal, and the phrase “in awe of winter”.
I wish I had a copy of everyone’s efforts, or a decent memory of their words. I remember A finished with honour the time of rest, and K began with Nature wins 5-4. D’s winter angel and demon are the kind to haunt dreams. Whatever I forget of the words, I will not forget the warmth and feeling of a collective that works. Like a good jazz combo, or the Band that brilliant K wrote for us last week, we are each other’s harmony. My own honouring of winter is here.

the photo is from Edinburgh winter 2018.

*The original poem is Shakespeare of course – from Love’s Labour Lost, Winter Song