‘Metallic frankness’

“Partridges in the Snow,’’ (1891) by Jozef Chelmonski

Via Wikipedia

“The differences between summer and winter on beaches in areas where the winter conditions are rougher and waves have a shorter wavelength but higher energy. In winter, sand from the beach is stored offshore.’’

Graphic by Paul Webb with credit to Steven Earle’s Physical Geology.

“The house is hard cold. Winter walks up and down the town swinging its censer, but no smoke or sweetness comes from it, only the sour, metallic frankness of salt and snow. I dress in the dark and hurry out. The sleepy dogs walk with me a few strides, then they disappear. The water slaps crisply upon the cold-firmed sand. I listen intently, as though it is a language the ocean is speaking. There are no stars, nor a moon.’’

Mary Olive (1935-2019), American poet. She spent much of her life in Provincetown, at the tip of Cape Cod.