FEBRUARY

The light is lengthening.
There is that feeling in the air
we New Englanders feel
when the sunlight and climbing temperatures show up
like a bouquet of flowers on a random day that isn’t your birthday.
There is a brightness to those days,
a gift in the the throes of a New England winter.
Tastes of what is to come —
the smell of burgers cooking on a grill
calling me to day drink
or to get an iced coffee.
Convertible tops down with heat blasting, the roads jam packed with cars out for their weekend drives.
People out and about coming from their winter hibernation —
smiling, happy joy filled people.
Men walking around in shorts
and…