What Spring Might Mean

Michael Helsem

April 18, 2021

What spring might mean to one in house arrest

i hardly dare to imagine, while warm days

reap torrents of allergens; i study low-rez

gifs: this screen my windshield has replaced.

What spring might bring i seldom wonder much,

having so long retired my future’s glass.

i’m glad, i guess, more for the mass of us

than me, that better things are ripe to hatch—

& spring unseen proceeds in its needful work

regardless of the streets torn up, our games

that serve us in lieu of plans: fierce wind affirms

the futility of such, house gewgaws break

with branches of a certain size. The rest

survive, as most will, still in the squid’s own daze.

M.H. was born in Dallas in 1958. Shortly afterward, fish fell from the sky.