It takes a mind of winter to see the nothing that is not there and the nothing that is. Wallace Stevens wrote that in 1921, in a poem called “The Snow Man.” The line has haunted me since I first read it in college, during the snows of yesteryear, somewhere in the stacks of UVA’s Alderman Library.
The poem still puzzles me. The scholarly consensus is that Stevens is talking about the nature of human perspective — how our view of the natural world is defined by our emotional conditioning. It ends with an invitation to find the beauty in Old Man Winter — but with the caveat that only those who’ve frozen their butt off can truly appreciate “the spruces rough in the distant glitter/ of the January sun.”
It’s been a warm November in Alabama, so we may not get those polar lessons. But you get the picture.
Winter is a season for reflection. Our watershed in Coastal Alabama has faced numerous threats over the past year — wetland loss, sewage spills, coal-ash pollution, and mud dumping from dredge spoil have taken their toll. Reckoning with these challenges head-on, and witnessing the damage they’ve already wrought, helps us recognize and reflect on what’s worth protecting.
We started CURRENTS to tell the stories of Mobile Bay and its people, because it’s those stories — good, bad, and ugly — that give it meaning.
As we wind down another year, we ask you to reflect on what’s important to you about our waters, and to consider giving to Mobile Baykeeper as part of our End-of-Year campaign. You can do that by donating directly at MobileBaykeeper.org/give, or subscribing to CURRENTS.
Caine O'Rear 