Winter

Winter symbolizes bleakness, isolation, difficulty, interiority, and slowing down. This mix of meaning is overall neither definitively good nor bad, but the speaker has grown tired of winter by the time February arrives. The freezing temperatures and intense winds keep the speaker inside watching TV and eating calorie-dense foods with only their cat for company.

Marking Territory

Marking territory symbolizes the need to survive and claim ownership of a particular place. When a local tomcat sprays the speaker's front door, the speaker claims that everything is "all about sex and territory" (13). Humans are not exempt from this statement.

February

February symbolizes a liminal time between despair and the anticipation of optimism. This contrasts the more typical association between February and romantic love. Though the speaker calls February the "month of despair," the glimmer of spring hangs around the corner (25). February may have "a skewered heart in...