The Calendar Months Project: ‘Beckoning January’

The calendar months project arose from a simple question: what makes each month distinctive for Upper West Siders? The poems were created to merge the wonder of the people and sites of the neighborhood with the calendar months. Culling through my archive of photographs, I was able to find images that illustrated some of the rhyming verses. ~ Mildred Alpern

“Beckoning January”
Poetry and Photographs by Mildred Alpern

Janus looks in both directions
From year retired to minted new
Beckoning a welcome entrance
For dreams and plans to fresh pursue

The air is crisp, the sun hangs low
Woolen hoods protect from snow
That falls in flakes on branch and tree
Surface coating evenly

Along the paths by wall of stone
A neighbor walks his dog alone
Past benches lined along the way
Muffled steps in a white display

While to the hills with colored sleds
Slip and slide on packed-down beds
Of snow in a landscape so serene
Like a Breughel’s winter peopled scene

New Year’s eve midnight cheer
Surges into the brand new year
So here’s to January, wrap up warm
Fire the hearth for a gusty storm