POEMS/ The Cruelest Month
April in Vermont (photo by John Churchman)
The Cruelest Month
If you've had cabin fever so long
your stomach feels like someone has been
kick boxing in it, if your brain will not work
and your mind flaps like a fish out of water,
if the your crocuses are blanketed with snow,
and volcanic ash has cancelled all flights to Europe
so that you cannot go to London as you planned,
if there is no birdsong at early morning light
and even your faithful phoebes have failed
to show up chanting their incessant call,
if a bear has ripped apart your bird feeders,
eaten all the seed, and left a nasty calling card,
if the weather report shows cold and rain for the rest
of the month, if your car won't start, and you are late
for an appointment that was hard to get, if the mud ruts
in the dirt road have deepened six inches over night,
if even the paved roads are pitted with pot holes,
if streams and rivers are beginning to flood,
and your favorite restaurant will be closed for three weeks,
chances are, it's April in Vermont.
This poem will appear in the Burlington Free Press during the month of April for PoemCity 2014.
If you've had cabin fever so long
your stomach feels like someone has been
kick boxing in it, if your brain will not work
and your mind flaps like a fish out of water,
if the your crocuses are blanketed with snow,
and volcanic ash has cancelled all flights to Europe
so that you cannot go to London as you planned,
if there is no birdsong at early morning light
and even your faithful phoebes have failed
to show up chanting their incessant call,
if a bear has ripped apart your bird feeders,
eaten all the seed, and left a nasty calling card,
if the weather report shows cold and rain for the rest
of the month, if your car won't start, and you are late
for an appointment that was hard to get, if the mud ruts
in the dirt road have deepened six inches over night,
if even the paved roads are pitted with pot holes,
if streams and rivers are beginning to flood,
and your favorite restaurant will be closed for three weeks,
chances are, it's April in Vermont.
This poem will appear in the Burlington Free Press during the month of April for PoemCity 2014.