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Weatherwatch - March

By Bill Biddle

March
Pin drop falls the silver rain,
Smashing to the ground –

    Moisture, moisture, and more moisture – get used to it, Methow Valley, get used to it. Weatherwatch has been predicting (preaching?) this mantra for a few years now, and the past two months of wintry mix precipitation (Jay Lucas’ delightful nomer in describing the MVSTA trail scene almost every day in January and February) has stamped the mantra with approval.
    March will continue this regimen of wetness. El Nino is still playing a big part in our weather and that suggests an even wetter March than usual. More on that topic later, but right now a return to the poetry that started this column.
    The above opening lines open a poem entitled “Cage” by Jackie Worsing, a University of Washington student majoring in English. She wrote “Cage” with winter and spring in mind and it applies admirably to our valley. Winter can sometimes entrap, encage us to the point that we want to break out of the scene and be somewhere else. Anything that’s not snow and rain and low clouds!     Or how about “Watch lightning woo a rose”?
The poem continues with these lines:

Pavement black against the grain;
Tumbling thunders pound.

While Horizon smolders soot
Beyond the water’s gleam,
Puddles gather at my foot
As golden all the forests seem.

Purest sight of whitened breath
Twists about my nose –
I wish to stroke the dragon’s breast;
Watch lightning woo a rose.

But Nirvana is a vague footnote
Unsung now in my time.
Ain’t nothin’ left they haven’t wrote –
The architect of this rhyme.

    Now – with this poem in mind – step back from the scene out the window in our valley and find a Nirvana that will take you to an April full of flowers, sunshine, and warm afternoons. After all, March is the month with the vernal equinox on the 20th, and vernal is of the spring. Even with an equinoctial storm (more moisture!) on that weekend, spring will be here all of that final week of March. The yellowbell and bluebell flowers will be chiming a welcome spring!
    Thank you, Jackie, for giving a Methow Valley end-of-winter party with a good riddance – time for winter to go back into the hills.
    April? Stay tuned!