Mary Jo Balistreri

The Visit

April comes for a visit,
her suitcase bulging with paints,
birds, and flowers. Known for her magic
I am surprised to see her frown,
her somber smock,
her whole demeanor brooding in gray.
She sits at the kitchen table, tells
me she’s feeling her age, feeling out
of sorts this spring. I fix licorice tea,
my sweet panacea.
April sits quietly, begins to relax.
She jots down items
in her blue-lined notebook.
We walk out on the deck together;
she pulls ten yellow finches from her bag.
Charmed, they puff into golden globes
on naked oaks.
With air brush in hand, she sprays tuffs
of pale green on scruffy dun grasses.
She comes in to judge the effect,
but her old nemesis, Winter, mocks
her efforts in Turner mist.
She shrugs, asks for more licorice
tea. Tomorrow will be better, she says.

© Mary Jo Balistreri 2015

Mary Jo has two full books of poetry, Joy in the Morning and gathering the harvest published by Bellowing Ark Press, and a chapbook, Best Brothers, published by Tiger’s Eye Press. She has recent work in Parabola, The Hurricane Press, Plainsongs, The Avocet: Journal of Nature Poetry, Crab Creek Review, Quill and Parchment, Ruminate, The Homestead Review, The Heron’s Nest, Acorn, and A Hundred Gourds. She has six Pushcart nominations, and two Best of the Net. Please visit her at maryjobalistreripoet.com