It's Nice Out

I just got back from walking along the Mississippi River on the St. Paul side. A gorgeous sunny day, around 60, with a cool breeze to fluff everything. Spring has sprung?

I read this last night in The Paris Review Interviews, Vol I. It makes you want to go outside...

Interviewer

What, other than yourself, is the subject of your poems?

Jack Gilbert

Those I love. Being. Living my life without being diverted into things that people so often get diverted into. Being alive is so extraordinary I don't know why people limit it to riches, pride, security-all of those things life is built on. People miss so much because they want money and comfort and pride, a house and a job to pay for the house. And they have to get a car. You can't see anything from a car. It's moving too fast. People take vacations. That's their reward-the vacation. Why not the life? Vacations are second-rate. People deprive themselves of so much of their lives-until it's too late. Though I understand that often you don't have a choice.