This poem originally appeared in Elohi Gadugi Journal, 2013.
A Better Calendar
March
arrow green shoot, new flame
augur Equinox of dark and light
birth scattered by squirrels
branches red with buds
April
chlorophyll rises, compost cooks
cut daffodils in every room, cut tulips
dawn an earlier pleasure
day stays out past curfew
May
endive and escarole
enter heat and her retinue of flies
fancy the lilacs’ scented bordello
fingerling potatoes pulse underground
June
given sun and sun: abundance
green saturation calling her name
heartstop tomatoes an heirloom promise
hours of day yield minutes to night
July
ice cream, iced coffee, ice tea
irrigation early and late
jiving the honey bees’ hive
June sings June, sings July
August
knotweed feathers the stillness
knotweed invasion on the rise
listen to cicadas’ jazz, lovers,
listen, sweat cooling scented skin
September
marriage of tomatoes, mozzarella & basil
marriage of morning chill, fleece & flannel
night takes day’s hand walking a dusty path
now the harvest, now the turning leaves
October
oak fires in the hearth stove
orchestral sunsets, strings of salmon, coral & gold
patterns of geese language writ in grey sky
patterns of orange boletes
November
quell the silent sadness
quiet the somnolent fog
remember me, morning, lost in night’s embrace
remember me, dead ones, returning through the veil
December
seed catalogs on the nightstand, gathering dreams
seed potatoes in the cellar, growing eyes
telling, the seal dreams of polar bears
trumpet, the peal of first light across the ice
January
under the rain, light ushers the day
under the soil, warming rooms of worms
verdant a promise, a secret to be revealed
vital the long sweet kiss of rain
February
weather a symphony, whether the sun
wherever a pea, a calendar begun
x-ing through the mulch of old leaves
xanthophyll rises within the green
March
year out, year in
yellow slickers in the mist
zed signals an ending
zenith the heavens above
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