I recently assembled these thoughts on coming across the poem's quotation from John Steinbeck while reading The Grapes of Wrath. I often suggested to my students the advantage to be gained by attempting an argument in opposition to what the student wished to argue. In other words, the good old Light and Dark strategy. The "Terrace" setting is Perth's main city thoroughfare, St. George's Terrace. I might add that Australia is now heading into Autumn and Winter . I'm off North to the Summer!

 

Give It Sweetness

Winter's final front sweeps away the shivering bathers,

rolling swells thud unfelt in spume and spray; the kiosk's

shuttered: “Closed Today,” its latest perfidy.

 

A sudden flash, clipped from Steinbeck's journal:

What good is the warmth of Summer,

without the cold of Winter to give it sweetness?

 

II

Wide asleep we wander, aimless among the random turmoils

of the canyoned Terrace; a sharp sea-breeze blusters

through, tipping primavera hats from September heads . . .

 

. . . as charcoal suits filled with hollow mannequins parade

over clouded paths and kerbs, hesitant traffic jockying cautiously.

Behind plate glass, blank watchers sip and scan; tiny fans revolve

in their coffee spoons.

Springtime slides in, hope is rekindled.

Chris Hubbard

Perth, 2018