Spring

And May’s breath, impossibly tender,
inhumanly graceful,
washes down my shoulders.

from “Nest,” by Jordan Germ in Mild Ulcer #1

~

Hundreds of us,

haunch to haunch on
      every bench in
      Central Park

eyes closed, faces pointing
      at the Sun, we’re

turning

as the Sun turns

“The First Warm Day of the Year” by Lew Welch, from Ring of Bone

~

May finds me in my nest, pushes me out, and forces a renewal,
first flight.

from “Nest,” by Jordan Germ in Mild Ulcer #1

~

1
Slowly in the swamps unfold
great yellow petals of a
savage thing, a
tropic thing —

While no stilt-legged birds watch,
no monkey screams,
those great yellow petals
unfold.

2
Rank plant.

“Skunk Cabbage” by Lew Welch, from Ring of Bone