It is Spring

The day ends with rain falling on daffodils.

It is spring and has been for weeks. The flowers

are no longer thirsty. The sky
has cried on them and spat on them.

They have been drenched for days,

but the colors are bright and the petals

are large, threatening to bend stems over

and lie them gently on tall grass.

The day ends with rain falling. It has

been falling for days. The colors

are rainbowesque, only

without the crystal spectrum

of light from the hot sun.

A drenching like Noah’s flood,

almost half of the forty days down

and counting.

The day ends with daffodils drowning

two by two. The color of blood

and the color of the lost sun swirl

around a drain. And the ancient oarsmen

call desperately. The day ends

with rain and saturated flowers,

and colors blending into darkness,

and colors fading to black.

-

"It is Spring" was read on March 21, 2013 and again on June 5, 2013, by Conrad Balliet on his radio segment, Conrad's Corner, as part of his local Dayton poets project on WYSO 91.3 FM.

Eric

Repertory Justice

Smith vs. the State again
today on the marquee docket,
another decade-old case.

Drab oak, maple
or walnut panels upstage the light, honored
with traditional props—

the books, the bailiff, the brunette
typing transcripts, and the yawning
from the jury.

A dark robe clings to the bony,
bifocal-ing, caffeine-driven director,
stayed by impromptu lines,

tortious logic ad nauseum, reaching for gavel
at the close of applause—
another bifurcated encore.

Pin-striped costumes
in a choreographed side bar, plead, motion,
beckon for prompted verdict.

"Your honor, are these the legs of a murderess?"
Yet another gallery gasp, in unison.
Flash! Camera flashes.

Opinion:
Held over, mistrial, no
reversible error.

Clerk's note:
Place back on the docket
for rotation.

-

"Repertory Justice" was originally published in the Fall 2009 issue (Vol. 4/3) of Wilderness House Literary Review.

Here's a direct link to the poem (in .pdf):
http://www.whlreview.com/no-4.3/poetry/EricBlanchard.pdf

On December 20, 2012, "Repertory Justice" was read by Conrad Balliet on Conrad's Corner, WYSO 91.3 FM as part of his local poets project.

Eric