after weeks of dry weather —
or merely a tease of moisture in the form of fog
or snow or sleet or drizzle —
the spring skies have finally broken open
All articles filed in April

dressed for spring
midway up the hill
the neighbor’s weeping fig
is dressed for spring
a gown of bridal white blossoms
shielding leafless branches.
the lily bed
if i had any rage i took it out on the lily bed and its web of ingrown roots the fruit of thirty years of spawning tigers i scythed and hoed, slicing through sod separating innumerable worms from their other ends and cleaving through the rusty orange roots that choked the ground until, at last,…
Read Moreprelude
the sharp blade pierced the greening grass
and shovelfuls of soil revealed wakened worms
shrinking away from the light
April first
this morning we awoke to a film of frost
sparkling on the grass
as fickle spring once more laughed
in our foolish faces

easter monday
in the park
the japanese magnolia is shedding
its petals

holy saturday
we planted the peas today
rolled their plump green bodies
into the black bacterial dust
gardeners call inoculant
and then tucked them one by one
under the soil

april day
a rustle, a roar
branches sway, cottonwood leaves
shimmer in the wind

the colors of sunday
the world is awash in cream and lavender the invading violets have marched across the lawn flanking the driveway in a company of purple and circling the tree in the meadow in a fairy ring of amethyst and white beyond the fence the neighbor’s lilac is just starting to break into bloom; the fruit trees…
Read More
the grub worm redeemed
what is the grub worm?
a blind, bloated, pale, writhing, wriggling mess