Fits and Starts of Spring

It’s Poetry Friday! Thank you Molly at Nix the Comfort Zone for hosting. Stop by and when you do, check out her photographs of birds and much more on her previous post as well. They are quite beautiful.

I have two poems to share today, but just as I was searching for another poet’s work to spice up my post I received this card from a second grade student named Andrew from the Poetry Project in Happy Valley, Oregon. It made my day that had included a brief local power outage while I was about to put bread in my electric oven. Anyway, all that resolved and I can’t wait to share Andrew’s poem! Was it a coincidence that my husband and I had pizza for dinner?

Spring is coming to Syracuse, N.Y. in fits and starts. My forsythias this morning were blanketed overnight:

Change of course is the only thing we can depend on. It comes no matter what, and is determined as a main character, in a middle grade novel. Strong and persistent.

In many things, there is no clean break with what came before. Think seasons, kids growing up and adults aging. Change reveals our humble place on the planet, our part in something bigger.

The seasons here in Syracuse change like the flow of cold molasses. Seasons moves forward as if ambivalent. Spring to summer, summer to fall, fall to winter, and winter to spring takes weeks, even months.

So, with all the time I now suddenly have on my hands, I’ve been watching closely out my window and on long walks, spring approaching with its fits and starts, stepping forward and then backward. Below is a tanka and a short free verse poem inspired by this week’s weather.

SPRING CAUTION 

Trees wear snow today,
coating limbs way past elbows,
halting the lilacs.
I suspect spring was frightened
by yesterday's hyacinths. 

© Janice Scully 2020

And another inspired by a sideways windy day this week:

WINDY TUESDAY

The wind ebbed
and flowed through the trees
like a witch
with lips pursed blowing,
cheeks big as balloons
starting and stopping,
unsure if she 
wanted company or
to scare everyone away.

© Janice Scully 2020

I hope everyone is enjoying the amazing progressive poem organized by Margaret Simon at Reflections of the Teche. It’s been really interesting to see the choices the poets are making. Thank you, Molly, for hosting Poetry Friday this week!

20 thoughts on “Fits and Starts of Spring”

  3. I love the personification in your poems., Funny about spring coming and going there – here it has been autumn sprinkled with summer’s last hurrah.

  4. Forsythia coated in snow! Never seen that (here in the deep South). Thank you for your beautiful thoughts about change, esp. comparing it to a hero in a middle grade novel… this is helping as I work in a middle grade novel today. 🙂

    1. I did my thesis on writing middle grade humor, trying to figure out why middle grade characters are so engaging and often funny. It has much to do with their indomitable spirit, to persist no matter what. I still try to write prose occasionally and admire those who are really good at those characters. Raul Dahl’s book “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” has wonderful middle grade characters, good and evil, who will stop at nothing to get what they want.

  5. Because I taught those middle-graders I too, love your reference, Janice, and our forsythia is still not out so I’m glad the snow did not cover it as you beautifully wrote. Hoping our warmth coming will melt it all & spring at last will come!

    1. The snow melted hours later and the forsythias are just fine. Actually a little fuller this year. The daffodils survived, too.

  6. I love both of these spring poems. I think we’ve seen that witchy wind who is not sure if she wants company or not.

  7. I can fully relate to your description of how the change in seasons flows slowly, back and forth. Last Thursday we had 8-10 inches of snow overnight and within days it was all gone! I love the change in seasons and appreciate both of your poems which highlight that. Great personification!

  8. Thank you for sharing all of these poems! I love these fun lines: “with lips pursed blowing,
    cheeks big as balloons”. And thanks for sharing Andrew’s poem. Yes, pepperoni pizza. 🙂

  9. Thank you for all three poems! In the past weeks, we here in Minnesota have had many days in the 30s and 40s, one day that hit 70(!), and several snowstorms. Love that hyacinths scared spring!

  10. Andrew’s poem is making me hungry, and your poems are beautifully describing our spring thus far. We had snow yesterday, but it’s back into the 50s and sunny tomorrow. Thanks for sharing, Janice.

  11. “Spring Caution” speaks to me today, Janice. My husband’s aunt was an artist. My favorite painting of hers, which she gifted to us, is of a forsythia bush in the snow.

  13. I don’t tell this to many people, but spring is my least favorite season and your Spring Caution poem is exactly why. I don’t like daily weather changes (and no, I’m not a middle schooler although I teach them!) and surprises. I hope your spring blooms were not too frightened!

  14. Being a long-time resident in Syracuse, I know too well the effects of snow on the mind. Your forsythia bush looks like giant marshmallows and your spring poems are wonderful. I especially like the 2nd one with its visualization. If interested, send me your #imagepoem(s) and also add the hashtag @NatureNurtures2020. I created a padlet too. The invitation and more info are at https://beyondliteracylink.blogspot.com/2020/04/nature-nurtures-special-invitation.html.

  15. I love way past elbows and your witch with pursed lips. That’s what I love about poetry–the surprising leaps.

  16. I love way past elbows and your witch with pursed lips. That’s what I love about poetry–the surprising leaps.

  17. Oh how fun to see Andrew’s poem posted. I only wish that school was in session so I could show him. His school is Silver Star in Vancouver, Wa across the river from Happy Valley, OR. with school out, I just used my address.

    We had no snow to speak of this year so I enjoy seeing pics.

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