Michael Ceraolo’s most recent poem to appear here was “Monster Mash” (May 2017)

Winter Scene (2)
By Michael Ceraolo

The calendar says spring arrived just over a week ago,
though we here well know
sometimes the stubborn weather
doesn’t match the supposed season
Yesterday,
a few flurries fell,
though
no snow remains on the now-frozen ground
except in a few shaded places
Returned birds,
mostly robins,
walk across the grass looking for food
Though only a few inches deep
the now-freed creek flows fast enough
to generate white water
(which I heard before I saw)

A few more trees have fallen
across the creek over the winter,
and
they and the wall of the small bridge
provide some of those shaded places
where ice and snow remain

The temperature today
won’t make it out of the twenties,
which
is more than twenty degrees below normal,
but
there isn’t a cloud in the sky and the sun
signals spring even if the cold air doesn’t

There are many places that are colder
There are some places that get more snow
during an average winter
(though
I don’t think any of those places
are bigger cities than here,
at least today)
But
there aren’t many places that get less sunshine
during the months of winter,
and I thought,
if more of winter were like this day
with sunshine instead of the standard gray,
maybe
so many people wouldn’t be leaving the area
for places that are superficially nicer

                                                                 And
though that fact will change
on the geological time scale,
I wonder if enough people,
or any people,
will be here when it does