![Global warming comes in fits and starts
The thermometer
still bangs away at the bottom sometimes
But everything is mostly easier these days
The Americans
have the taken the U out of fourty
and I take the I out whenever I can
Go down to Texas where
if bullshit was white they’d be able to ski
and tell tall tales of my youth that are truth
Of breaking ice for cattle at 50 below
of shaving a beard too early one year
and beard-shaped frozen blisters rising
They listen and smile
and welcome me in like some long lost kin](https://i0.wp.com/www.neilmeili.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/40-Below-is-40-Below.jpg?resize=600%2C600&ssl=1)
40º below zero is where the Fahrenheit and Celsius temperature scales meet.
40º below zero is where the Fahrenheit and Celsius temperature scales meet.
You can learn more about Maud Lewis and her art here
https://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/maud-lewis/biography/
Photo credit: Author’s grandson William Bullock