Welcome to the Spot Writers. The prompt for this month is “Spring has sprung.” Today’s poem comes to us from Val Muller, author of the kidlit mystery series Corgi Capers.
***
“Unmasking” by Val Muller
The buds emerge,
The pollen dusts,
The birds eat worms,
The masks come off.
*
The wintery brown
Has gone away;
Like bright green grass,
Faces on display.
*
A singing chorus
Chirps in sunbeams;
Our eyes in the mirror
Wake from a dream.
*
There is no “mute,”
The window’s open.
Our teeth look so big,
Our faces look broken.
*
The mask was our blanket
Under winter’s hibernation.
Spring’s thrown that off—
But where’s our elation?
*
Our pandemic winter—
Drawn out—a long one—
Each instant of it
Seems quite drawn on:
*
Every line etched
Upon our faces,
Our tired eyes,
Our mouths misplaced,
*
The worry lines,
The wrinkled brow:
We smiled more Before
Than we do now.
*
The blanket of snow
Melts to flower.
A field, exposed,
No screen to cover.
*
Early spring’s
Uncomfortable:
Mud and chill
And still the threat of snow.
*
Gossamer fluff brings
Allergies—
With no mask
To hide our sneeze.
*
But Sun persists
When humanity falters,
Ignites the blooms,
Illuminates alters
*
Of rebirth
And ancient memory
Of blooming leaf
Upon the tree.
*
For years we nestled
Under warm quilted faces.
We stayed in our homes
And feared going places.
*
And we emerge
From Winter places,
From months not knowing
Social graces:
*
Teeth look like seeds,
Faces are wrong,
Noses are beaks,
Cheeks-chins, too long.
*
Shaking winter,
Frozen souls
Stumble into sunshine,
Shedding woes.
*
The winter thaw
Flows out our veins
As we walk into
The sun again.
*
We stumble out,
Crack jaws with smiles.
Each baby step
Aches like a mile.
*
The cold of winter’s
A deathly hibernation,
But we wake.
Aches in our limbs
*
Remind us that
We are alive,
Survived, Awake, Aware—
We thrive.
*
In the spring wind,
High in a tree,
A quilted mask ear strap
Flaps in the breeze.
*
A bird nestles,
In colorful nest thrives,
While those below
Try on their new lives.
***
The Spot Writers—Our Members:
Val Muller: http://www.valmuller.com/blog/
Catherine A. MacKenzie: https://writingwicket.wordpress.com/wicker-chitter/
Phil Yeats: https://alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com
Chiara De Giorgi: https://chiaradegiorgi.blogspot.ca/
Writing Wicket 