a mean-spirited cold was oppressing us all day. at 7.40 i went into clemons library to meet a classmate; when i walked out at 9.30 a peacefulcalm had fallen - hesuchia - somehow the word that came to mind then was the greek word for calmness (i had learnt it very early, in textbook sentences of the "the general sees that the calmness on the sea is great" variety.) - i saw the pale silver on the ground first, and i know i've never liked snow especially but i felt suddenly happy, and it didn't even seem so cold anymore. i walked home, happily crunching snow under my feet, and my charmed trance extended till i had to cross a road on a slope, and the tyre tracks had left the ground gleaming slippery and then the reality of falling struck me. but still happy. catching snowflakes on my tongue and thinking about how, earlier in the day, while waiting downstairs wishing the bus would come, a boy had said to me, while he shifted his weight in exaggerated fashion: i'm freezing, i'm from the south. and a sudden surge of laughter that i had to suppress and i solemnly said to him, i see. i'm cold too, i live on the equator. i took off my gloves and tossed handfuls of white fluff and thought, ice kachang! my hat and coat were snow-encrusted when i got home, and i had been oblivious to the snow accumulating on my armful of books, which melted indoors and curled the pages, and feeling rueful because i had only just got one of them today. greek poetry fragments that made me laugh: here is eros. if he remains, beauty will have to do for brains. and who could resist these: one roll of the dice stirs up the ghosts. or; golden goblets with knucklebone stems. or; you were to me then a shy little girl. how many stories could be written about that one! or; all colours tangled together. or even; wrapped up in rich shaggy wool - oh glorious. and number 89, sappho, quite simply: plums.

i had forgotten i liked sappho.

the sexiest line of sappho isn't, as weinberger said in his essay, "you make me hot." i think it's the one that says, simply, "i am willing."