Purple
Like a desert flower,
they surprise, pop up
on islands of late winter mud.
Burst through bare patches of grass.
Symbols of royalty and pride.
Crocuses robed in purple with yellow tongues.
Hungry for a new season.
My company on a sunny March day
as the days stretch out.
All in wait for more color, light, life.
Easing our loads. The promise of green.
A time of hope.
______________________________
Hyacinth
A scent sends me back —
where spring was a destination.
Nature nurtured. Violet flowers
emerged in a secret spot,
trumpets of sweet perfume.
Today I placed a potted hyacinth
on the grave of loved ones
who tended gardens.
______________________________
Amy Barone’s most recent full-length poetry collection, Defying Extinction, was published by Broadstone Books in 2022. SPD recognized it as a Poetry Bestseller of the Month (July 2022) and an SPD Recommended Book. We Became Summer was released by New York Quarterly Books in 2018. Barone has also published two chapbooks, Kamikaze Dance (Finishing Line Press) and Views from the Driveway (Foothills Publishing). Her poems have appeared in Muddy River Poetry Review, New Verse News, The Ocotillo Review, Paterson Literary Review and several Brownstone Poets anthologies. She belongs to the Brevitas online poetry community. Originally from Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, she currently lives in New York City and Haverford, PA. Follow her on Twitter where her handle is @AmyBBarone.
