Time to think seriously of wintering

   I haven't thought to mention

   this, but if it weren't for

   California's sudden fashion,

   a hundred years ago, as a

   pleasant place for a winter

   residence, I'd not have been

   brought into this world, to

   a later generation, as a na-

   tive of that same impression.

   Now, as I think of winter-

   ing in my own time, I have

   to weigh the shock the place

   precipitates, as an unbeara-

   ble levitation in litheness,

   against everyone's endurance

   of the same crisis. 

   Everyone says, Oh, go ahead,

   be strong. Nobody, they re-

   mind me, encouragingly, has

   any water to swim anymore.

   But you know, I've long held,

   the elements alone are not to

   blame for California. It only

   seems to be spoiled, to feel

   the specific gravity of one's

   place of birth as the natural

   state. Is there such a thing?

   It's not for me to worry about.

   It can be resisted, as you see

   in this conjecture. But it can

   not be distrusted. Ask Rubens.

   Siblings, age 13 and 9. A point

   spread structuring the natural

   state, is a place of origin of

   enduring specific gravity. At-

   testing to and testing that im-

   pression, the goldfinch dances

   on his ribbon, undistrustfully.

   

Peter Paul Rubens
Albert and Nikolaus
1626
Collection Lichtenstein