Good News!

A native of Kiev once told me that
nothing good can ever happen
in November in St Petersburg.
But I’m not yet there.

The snow falls here too
and dense granite-colored clouds hang close overhead,
a heavy layer of sediment,
churning itself like still-wet concrete.

And when you first breathe in November something tingles in your nose
and your eyes burn raw, like the moment before one cries.

Somehow day seems longer now,
as it is dissolved into night,
already in early afternoon—
a swath of darkness stretching toward the west.

Spit turns to ice in St Petersburg
even before it hits the frozen ground,
And I suppose tears would also harden
and shatter like glass.


So...
I am returning to St Petersburg next semester. I am thrilled, even if January will be quite different from June. I got into two programs (ACTR and CIEE), but am leaning towards the ACTR program. I'd be right off Nevsky Prospect, behind Kazansky Sobor. Perfection.

More to come!