IN SPRING
It’s not supposed
to feel like this in springtime
‘Dozers lined up
waiting for the thaw
Since they built
that highway, the creek’s been drying up
Diverted to a
trickle, flowing through a pipe
The falls are dry,
can’t even cry
It’s not supposed
to feel like this in spring.
In spring, when
life says yes again and again
When green things,
growing, tumbling, shout to be heard
I walk
construction sites, don’t hear a word
It’s not supposed
to sound like this in spring.
The company
invents a brand new lettuce
Lettuce sporting
brand new DNA
Looking like the
kind we all remember
Arriving at the
store so crisp & firm
I take a bite, I
taste the worm
It’s not supposed
to taste like this in spring.
In spring, when
life says yes again and again
When green things,
growing, tumbling, smell of the earth
I walk the
research plots of sterile dirt
It’s not supposed
to smell like this in spring.
In springs of old
we waited for the moisture
Snow drifts
shrinking, melting in the sun
Musty basements
flooding in the spring thaw
Ice on puddles
breaking underfoot
This year we had
no snow, and spring’s too soon—
It’s not supposed
to look like this in spring.
In spring, when
life says yes again and again
When young things
growing, tumbling, shout to be heard
I walk the city
streets for just one word
It’s not supposed
to feel like this in spring.
This spring our
country’s on the road to glory
We’ve bombed the
rubble in a distant land
And now, it seems,
we hear the same old story
Another country
needs our iron hand.
Outside my window,
a robin sings
I can’t get used
to so much death in spring.
In spring, when
life says yes again and again
When children,
growing, tumbling, shout to be heard
I walk the
battlefields, wait for one word
One word to tell
me this is really spring.
c 2002 Rachel
Nelson
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