Thursday, May 14, 2026

Mary McCarthy

Resurrections


Spring can never come

too soon:

grass already fat

and flush with the first crop

of dandelions,

columbines spiking flowers 

above a float of green,

peonies unfurling

red feathers

punched up 

through last year’s

dry remainders,

iris raising fans

to promise blues

rich as the sky

behind a lattice

of still bare trees,

skirted with brush

in bright leaf.


The air has lost its edge,

touching the world soft

as a hand brushing

the hair back

from a child’s forehead.

I watch a hawk rise 

and glide

as the sun on my back

warms and releases me

from the last of winter’s

brittle ice.



Trip


On the road with you

going south so fast

as we move deeper

each mile seems warmer

than the last

the trees unfold their greens

like young girls

shaking out their flounces

before the first dance

their fingers reaching eagerly

to brush against the sky

and wild flowers mass

in drifts

a crowd of shouts

in blue and red

with dame’s rocket

a dainty whisper

lacing the unfinished edge

of each empty field 

still waiting for its own

new growth



March


The dregs of winter

and we celebrate

with hyacinths in every room

making us dizzy with

their ripe perfumes

we watch cardinals flare

red in the dark pines

coming in by the dozen

for our oily sun seeds


We too are hungry

tramping out in the mud

to scour for the first

slip of new green

for the willows striking yellow

against the bare blacks

of slower trees

the eager drum

of woodpeckers

announcing return

the leaves thumbing up

through the earth

unfazed by snow

and the icy hiss of sleet


Nothing can stop it now

the season’s turn

rises light

as champagne bubbles

busy as yeast

in a new loaf

clean as a baby

taking its first

astonished breath



No comments:

Post a Comment

Chad Parenteau

Hey Buds Check on last tulip. Is  top  clipped? Rabbit or  neighbor? Day’s phone calls back burn flowers. Doctor’s words await. News won’t s...