Robin in March. Photo by Wilda Morris
It would seem that almost everyone welcomes the arrival of spring. These winning poems all suggest that spring is a treasured gift. They also suggests that nature teases us—giving us reason to think spring is here, then turning the thermometer down again. I heard a poet from Southern Illinois talk about snow falling on the cherry blossoms a few days ago. Melissa Huff, the March judge picked this poem as 3rd place:
Hesitation Spring
It was eighty degrees the
other day,
thirty-four today.
Buds ready to do
handstands
are huddled idle at the
sidelines.
Raindrops got the cold
shoulder
and now fall as spiteful
snowflakes.
Blooming tulips shiver in
the mulch.
The garden is idle, the
patio empty,
birds grumble at the
feeders.
Spring’s on hold until
further notice.
~ Irene Alderson
Judge’s Comments:
Spring’s frustrating habit of emerging in fits and starts—one day encouraging optimism, only to dash our hopes the next—threads through this poem as a consistent theme. The poem benefits from some nice metaphors, expressed by personifying all the elements of early spring—athletic buds, raindrops that morph into spiteful snowflakes, shivering tulips and grumbling birds. The last line sums it up succinctly—“Spring’s on hold until further notice.”
The 2nd place poem looks at spring in a more cheerful way:
spring
a day would arrive
with April's sun melt
when I unhitched my garters
rolled my long brown stockings
into doughnuts at my ankles
and skipped home from school
letting spring splash
my white winter legs
~ Peggy Trojan
This poem was first published in Echoes.
Judge’s comments:
This poem presents us with a deceptively simple image, a brief film clip that doesn’t try to describe what spring is like, but instead conveys the essence of a young girl’s response to spring. The poet enables me to see and feel the actions of the narrator—unhitching garters, rolling down stockings, (with that very visual reminder of a doughnut!), and skipping home from school. The action in the final two lines takes us out of the literal and ends with an apt metaphor—“ letting spring splash my white winter legs”.
The 1st place
poem has some of the feel of each of the other two winners—spring coming
“in fits and starts” and the exuberant reaction of the young to the warming
weather—all within a personification poem.
Spring Wannabe
It wished so earnestly
to be vernal
it bought flip flops
the first of the month,
packed wool sweaters
into dry cleaner bags,
banished snow brooms
and ice scrapers to the shed.
When temps climbed to 65,
barefoot kids raced
down hills on scooters,
adrenaline surging
through unjacketed veins,
March took a snapshot
and posted it on social
boasting its transitional success
until
biting winds kicked up in protest,
goosebumps took shape on exposed arms,
dropping the third month
down a peg or two
for boldly attempting
to control winter's
annoying habit
of overstaying its welcome.
~ Elaine Sorrentino
Judge’s Comments:
This poet takes our longing for spring’s arrival and flips it around so that the month of March is doing the longing—“It wished so earnestly to be vernal”. This clever personification has March trying so hard to be spring that it buys flip flops, packs away wool sweaters, banishes winter tools and even posts a snapshot on social media. The poem displays a nice consistency of tone and attitude throughout, from the “wannabe” in the title, to March “boasting its transitional success”, to the effective fifth stanza turn with winds “dropping the third month down a peg or two,” and on to the final reminder of “winter’s annoying habit of overstaying its welcome.”
Each poet retains copyright on his or her own poem.
If you didn’t enter the March Poetry Challenge, these winning poems may encourage you to write your own poem about spring—or to check back on April 1 to see what the new challenge will be.
Bios:
Irene Alderson performed regularly with the Bosso Poetry Company, a collective of writers and musicians based in Minneapolis. Her poetry has appeared online and on the Mankato Poetry Walk & Ride. She lives with her husband, who fills their home with music, and a loquacious super senior cat.
Elaine Sorrentino, Communications Director at South Shore Conservatory
in Hingham, MA, has been published in Minerva Rising, Willawaw
Journal, Glass: A
Journal of Poetry, Ekphrastic
Review, Writing in a Women’s Voice, Global Poemic, ONE ART: a journal of poetry,
The Door is a Jar, Agape Review, Haiku Universe, Sparks of Calliope, Muddy River Poetry Review, Library Love Letter, and at wildamorris.blogspot.com.
Melissa Huff feeds her poetry from many sources—the mystery of the natural world, the way humans everywhere connect and the importance of spirit. Her love for reading poetry aloud won her awards in 2019 and 2020 in the BlackBerry Peach Prizes for Poetry: Spoken and Heard, sponsored by the National Federation of State Poetry Societies. Recent publishing credits include Gyroscope Review, Blue Heron Review, Persimmon Tree, and Northern Colorado Writers’ Chiarascuro: Anthology of Virtue & Vice. Melissa has been frequently sighted making her way – by car, train or airplane – between Illinois and Colorado.
Peggy Trojan, age eighty-nine, published her first poem when she was seventy-seven. Her recent release, River, won second in the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets Chapbook contest in 2021. It also won an award of Outstanding Achievement from the Wisconsin Library Association. Her new release is a collection about her father, titled PA. She is the author of two full collections and five chapbooks. Her books are available on Amazon.
© Wilda Morris
