Friday, May 01, 2020

May by Jonathan Galassi

May
BY Jonathan Galassi

The backyard apple tree gets sad so soon,
takes on a used-up, feather-duster look
within a week.

The ivy’s spring reconnaissance campaign
sends red feelers out and up and down
to find the sun.

Ivy from last summer clogs the pool,
brewing a loamy, wormy, tea-leaf mulch
soft to the touch

and rank with interface of rut and rot.
The month after the month they say is cruel
is and is not.

Via Poetry Foundation:
Jonathan Galassi, “May” from North Street and Other Poems (New York: HarperCollins, 2001).

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