Charles Portolano, editor of The Avocet, has kindly included my poem, “The Lenten Rose” in The Weekly Avocet number 229. The Avocet is completely devoted to poetry about nature.
I wrote “The Lenten Rose” during NaPoWriMo 2016. That April was a colder, wetter one than April in 2017. I love these flowers, which I first met while living in Athens, West Virginia. When walking home from Concord United Methodist Church in early spring I looked for crocuses. One day a light snow had fallen earlier. I walked across our yard, looking for yellow and purple petals. I found none but almost stumbled upon a Lenten Rose, a beautiful surprise. That encounter inspired this poem. Thank you, Charles.
The Lenten Rose
Not everyone sees
the Lenten rose
unobtrusive
beside the
fallow garden,
a creamy teacup
staunch
against spring’s onslaughts.
Wet snow meets
open milk mouth.
Sturdy sepals hold
purple veins
in liturgical shades.
Lent’s privations
are passing.
Go outside.
If you see a rose
your spring is here.
first published in Weekly Avocet, #229, April 30, 2017.