April Fools
Melissa Balmain
Each year they do the same damn thing:
bulbs bloom and start to glow,
then–whammo! Sayonara, spring! –
a cold snap knocks them low.
You’d think by now they’d finally learn
to wait a week or three
until the risk of freezer burn
is gone, but no sirree:
come April, come a hint of sun,
they’ll pop back up for sure,
to make it seem that winter’s done –
and sucker us once more.
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From Melissa’s collection Walking in on People (chosen by X.J. Kennedy for the Able Muse Book Award)
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Melissa’s notes: “I lived in Virginia when I wrote this poem. Now that I live in Western NY, land of Easter ice storms and Mother’s Day blizzards, I miss the years when daffodils could fool me.”
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Melissa Balmain edits Light, North America’s longest-running journal of comic verse, and teaches writing at the University of Rochester. Her latest book of poetry is Satan Talks to His Therapist (Paul Dry Books). melissabalmain.com. She’ll be leading a workshop this May at Poetry by the Sea in beautiful coastal Connecticut, and would love to see you there!
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