Happy National Poetry Month!

NOTE:  Due to three rounds of company for the first time since pre-COVID and due to my being extremely busy with planning and coordinating activities for National Poetry Month, I have regrettably missed two weeks of posting on my WORDWALK blog.  I hope to return to my regular postings on WORDWALK with the following poem (written on April 9) and more to come during this wonderful National Poetry Month of April.  Best wishes for enjoying the reading and writing of poetry throughout National Poetry Month!

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A Transplanted Wisconsinite’s IF

Poem by Alice Jane-Marie Massa

If the winter were not so long and longer,

if winters here were not so severe,

if second softer winter did not come instead of glorious spring,

if–on the ninth of April–the stiff north wind did not blow the (fake) fur-trimmed hood off my down coat,

if we had a magnificent Hoosier spring,

if summers and autumns were longer,

if winters were shorter,

if some family members lived in this state,

if my friends were not growing older,

if a friend did not have cancer,

if I were young again–really young again,

if miracles came true for more than a few,

if my garden could be planted before the first of June,

if that guardian angel would stay in my pocket …

this Hoosier-at-heart could really like Wisconsin

for more than its Milwaukee sidewalks

which I have memorized

while my cherished guide dogs

have been and are at my side–

no matter where I am planted.

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Poetically yours,

Alice and the PAW-et Laureate Willow

April 11, 2022, Monday

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