april showers in poetry

the skeletons of long-abandoned
above-ground vinyl swimming pools

the bodegas and dollar stores where
once your childhood pizzerias stood

a car-struck possum by the roadside
awaiting nature’s cruel reclamation

and yet
there are teenagers setting up
a giant trampoline in the sunshine

and yet
there is another pizza shop
under construction across town

and yet
there are new green buds on trees
you feared long winter finally killed

the rain will fall from the skies
then evaporate and slowly rise
again and again and again

your life will go on
until someday it doesn’t
but life will go on
far longer than that

everyone’s April is
someone else’s October
it’s terrible
it’s beautiful
it’s beautifully terrible
it’s terribly beautiful

while it’s still your turn
take in as much as you can
of that trampoline sun

Last updated April 12, 2021