04/03/2025
This month's invoice post... "Definitely, spring has sprung! Be sure to enjoy the cherry blossoms. A great place to see them is on the Waterfront, near the Japanese Internment Memorial—a fitting spot to reflect on the Alien Enemies Act and its use, both in the past and today.
Since it’s National Poetry Month, I’m offering $5 off to those who send me a poem that fits in a Poetry Box. That means one page in 14-point font or larger. Be sure to include the poet’s name and where you found the poem. The only content note: I’d like to display it in my Poetry Box, so please go easy on the adult language.
I may be getting a little political, but I don’t see how imprisoning a legal U.S. resident in a notorious foreign maximum-security prison over a paperwork mistake upholds the Constitution. Which brings me to this poem…
Spring
By Edna St. Vincent Millay
To what purpose, April, do you return again?
Beauty is not enough.
You can no longer quiet me with the redness
Of little leaves opening stickily.
I know what I know.
The sun is hot on my neck as I observe
The spikes of the crocus.
The smell of the earth is good.
It is apparent that there is no death.
But what does that signify?
Not only underground are the brains of men
Eaten by maggots.
Life in itself
Is nothing,
An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs.
It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,
April
Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.
From Second April (Harper & Brothers, 1921) – Public Domain"
