March

My legs, leaden with a long winter’s sloth,
awaken with a tingle and I begin to fidget,
eager to walk, to work the stiffness off.

At crack of spring, blackbirds and finches scoff
loudly in the woods – a feathered quartet
to rouse legs leaden from long winter’s sloth.

Marvelling at the delicate hazy growth,
I cross the field, past the hawthorn thicket,
eager to walk, to work the stiffness off,

Golden celandines and primroses soft
spatter the hedgerows with sunshine – and yet
my legs are leaden from long winter’s sloth.

Daffodils ripple as I stifle a cough
in the chill March winds that I try to forget;
I’m eager to walk, to work the stiffness off,

Fresh rain sparkles in a newly dug trough,
washes away any sorrow or regret;
my legs, leaden with a long winter’s sloth,
prepare to march and work the stiffness off.

Kim M. Russell, 28th March 2019

Yellow butterflies

My response to dVerse Poets Pub Forms for All: the Villanelle, also linked to earthweal open link weekend #62

Sarah reminds us that it’s time to look at another form – the villanelle! She says that it’s a beautiful form, but it has its challenges, and tells us about her personal relationship with the form as well as something about its history and structure, together with some examples.

I was delighted to read that Sarah encountered her first villanelle on the London Underground because I had posters of Poems on the Underground pinned up around my classroom when I was teaching. I also enjoyed the poem ‘One Art’ by Elizabeth Bishop and absolutely adore her second example, ‘Jewels in my hand’ by Sasha Moorsom – hard acts to follow.

61 thoughts on “March”

  3. You and Grace had a similar Spring Muse. I loved the flow and build, with the refrains, and smoothly you trimmed them to work within the tercets. My piece, of course, ran toward philosophy and politics.

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  10. I also liked this spring poem and the conversational tone. I somehow imagined you walking with the Wordsworths. 🙂 Not the style, but it made me think of that group of poets wandering amidst the daffodils.

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  25. I loved this — the interplay between a sore begrudging attention and the shouting of spring all around was a delight. We poets are sluggards of a sea of ecstasies we live amid … Delightfully constructed.

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  27. ‘my legs are leaden from long winter’s sloth.’ – How I feel this after almost 5 months in lockdown! I am trying to get out on my bike or walk whenever possible. How nice that the spring is making this so much more pleasant!

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