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PWB Peeps: Toosdai Evening: Srs Not-Srs Poetry for Today, February 2, Illustrated! With a Poll!

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Welcome back to the odd and whimsical poetery of the Peeps related to holidaze! Let’s investigate what today is, because we need all the holidaze we can celebrate. Furtunately, our country is back to more or less normality, about which the PWBs are very happy!

Still, every day seems to be many holidays. Which is good, because we all have our favorites. So I will pick out one or two, and you can click the link above if you’re curious about the rest. This is an Open Thread, so please feel free to add your favorite pomes and photoes and holidaze for today in the Comments!

Today is Hedgehog Day!

Bet you thought I was going to lead with Groundhog Day, didn’t you? It’s that too! But I’d thought I’d switch to the slightly less usual. 

Long before the advent of Groundhog Day on February 2nd,  the Romans observed a similar event thousands of years ago on the exact same day. Rather than use the North American groundhog, the Romans used the hedgehog.

“If during hibernation, he (the hedgehog) looks out of his den on 2nd February and sees his shadow it means there is a clear moon and six more weeks of winter so he returns to his burrow.

The only difference between this ancient event and the present day version (aside from the hedgehog, of course) is the fact that the Romans would look to see if the hedgehog saw its shadow under a clear moon at night.

The Proper Way To Meet A Hedgehog

by Allan Wolf

Today I walked outside and spied
a hedgehog on the hill.
When she and I met eye to eye,
she raised up straight and still.
The quills across her back puffed out.
She froze in blind alarm.
In turn, I ceased to move about
to show I meant no harm.
Awhile we stood there silently
in time as if to say,
"I'll leave you be if you leave me,"
then went our separate ways.

A adult European Hedgehog with her newborn child. The child (left) is trying to get to the mother's teats while the mother (right) is being cautious towards the camera.
I couldn’t find one standing on a hill, so I brought two!

[Allan Wolf is a multiple-prize-winning author, poet and presenter. Read an interview with him at the poem link above. Read more about him at his website here. He is not always quite so whimsical (amongst others, he wrote a book about the Donner party)! His hedgehog poem is part of a collection of “how-to poems” edited by Paul B. Janeczko and illustrated by Richard Jones, available at several online retailers.]

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