November for Beginners by Rita Dove

November for Beginners

by Rita Dove

Snow would be the easy

way out—that softening

sky like a sigh of relief

at finally being allowed

to yield. No dice.

We stack twigs for burning

in glistening patches

but the rain won’t give.

So we wait, breeding

mood, making music

of decline. We sit down

in the smell of the past

and rise in a light

that is already leaving.

We ache in secret,

memorizing

a gloomy line

or two of German.

When spring comes

we promise to act

the fool. Pour,

rain! Sail, wind,

with your cargo of zithers!

It is clear from this poem (plus my knowledge of Rita Dove, one of my favorite poets) that the poet does not live in the Pacific Northwest, where rain is the norm not just in November but all winter. Here, spring is when the rain tapers off, unlike most other places I have lived where spring means rain after the snow of winter. And this poem is a reminder for PNW folks that our rain here is not the norm for most other Americans.

I love how Dove describes snow in stanza one: "that softening sky like a sigh of relief." Plus, a bit of rhyme! After the description, we get action: the speaker and her daughter are preparing for snow and cold by stacking wood. If you are wondering why I think the speaker's plus one in the "we" is her daughter is because the second stanza going into the third stanza has the "we" memorizing some German. Dove's husband is the German-born writer Fred Viebahn, so he probably does not need to memorize German phrases.

The second stanza is--for those of us who do not rejoice in the gloom of rain--very under-

standable. Look at the words Dove uses here: decline, smell, leaving, ache. (Making music: Dove plays both the cello and the viola da gamba.)

Stanza three jumps ahead to spring, when rain is expected and wanted. The rain can pour, the people can "act the fool" and have fun, and the music will change from "decline" to light and airy zithers.

This poem was published in Poetry in June 2012. (Ah, June, I am already wishing for late spring and early summer!) I hope no matter what weather you are having where you live, you have zither music and silliness, rather than darkness and decline. (And we got rid of a lot of darkness and decline on Tuesday, so we are all well on our way to light and progress.)