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Cyclogues (Early Autumn, 2021)
A chilly Friday morning. The day’s forecast is warm, nearly 80 degrees. But for now, it’s under 50.
“It’s late September,” Rod Stewart and Chris Berman would sing and say, respectively, back in the day, “and I really should be back at school.” But some of us never left school. And that’s a good thing, because none of us should ever quit on our curiosity. Certainty is lazy, a sign of intellectual atrophy and is all too often rewarded in our valuable public discourse where questions are considered weakness, or else taken as a challenge, an offense, or even an insult. But I digress….
Heading out for a ride around a neighboring park district nature reserve, the cold morning gave up without a fight as a warm and breezy afternoon began to seize the day. It was a nice little ride, just a circuit with no destination except to get the blood pumping and the muscles buzzing. But it did not fully clear my head. Which was and remains a fairly tall order. So, on top the morning pot of coffee, the ride still went a long way towards Good Enough.
It’s a good day to be in the north country, “where the rivers freeze and summer ends,” as Bob Dylan wrote for one of his love songs. All four seasons can be good for us. Autumn is a pleasant transition, when it wants to be. Spring commonly inspires that sense of renewal that makes one eager to open the windows to…