Solstice

Winter solstice always makes me think of that Robert Frost poem; “stopping by woods on a snowy evening,” a poem I memorized as a kid while riding the chairlift at Bridger Bowl with my step-dad. We would ski a run together, then he would help me practice the poem on the ride back up, after a whole day, I had it…and I still remember most of it. I’m not a big Frost fan…or maybe I am, I just became a little bit of a poetry snob in school and Frost didn’t write about anything edgy enough to be considered relevant. But I’m thinking about writing in different ways, and finding a new appreciation for poetry that is simpler and not as focused on shocking/reinventing/being vague for no real reason/calling attention to itself…etc.
At different times in my life, the last few lines have struck me in different ways…the speaker is out in the woods watching the snow fall on winter solstice, and he says:

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

I’ve bristled and resisted that notion of returning to the day-to-day because of the responsibilities you feel toward other people, and I’ve idealized the notion of having a life where you really only answer to yourself…





but I read it a little differently now.