Tuesday, March 16, 2010

“Snow In April”

[Wow—this B.N. poem is lovely—enjoy!]

Snow In April


The tulips are so temporal
because they contain
winter in their hearts.
They are the elegy
of flowers.

Faint-hearted,
the weather dissolves us,
the way things grow
smaller in the distance,
miraculous and liquid.

Here, the seasons are compulsive
and winter left a vestige
tender and musky
It rises
with the other scents.

We do not travel
or take any such risks,

but this far inland the flowers
stand for imported life,
stray beauty, and the bit
of snow that can rest in
                                           their bowls.

B.N.
© to the author 1983-2010

Snow in April appeared previously in Quarterly West

7 comments:

  1. Gorgeous piece. That last line is fabulous. I like to think I have winter in my heart.

    (hope you're enjoying your travels, John)

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  2. Hi Willow: I'm back online--yay! & will be by your blog soon. I stole yr pic of me for my post btw!

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  3. This IS lovely. She has an effortless way of capturing the essence of the season.

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  4. Hi Kat: B.N. is an amazing poet, & this may be one of her best.

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  5. Beautiful language:
    miraculous and liquid
    (this is life)

    and flowers containing "winter in their hearts"
    (I like to think of flowers building up a lot of latent potential and stored energy in winter, and using that to bloom out in spring)

    Excellent poem, especially for this transitional period between seasons.

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  6. This is one of those poems that makes me wish I had written it!

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  7. Hi HKatz & Karen

    HKatz: I love the part about "winter in their hearts" too!

    Karen: Amen to that!

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