Michael Perry:
How you doing? It's spring here in Wisconsin, sort of. If you take a look over there on the horizon, you can see that the bare trees are starting to thicken with buds, and the buds on the maples, which are sort of dark red, put a smoky maroon haze over everything. You do hear more birds. The garlic's coming up. We got some early onions up. And here in this old cold frame we've got a great headstart on the dandelions. I figure that's what it must be like to be a dandelion in Tennessee. It's a kind of rediscovery, including things you should have taken care of last fall. You can feel the countryside just itching to bust loose. And maybe by the time you see this, it will have. But for now, we're cautious. Yesterday it was 70 degrees. Today, it's not. That's the trouble with spring around these parts. You love it, but you just can't trust it. In short, it is a dysfunctional relationship. I for one am prepared to make a commitment. Today I put the snow shovel away.