Spring Equinox Was Yesterday

Ornamental trees, is the absence of fruit
of note in the animal world?
No sweet fortifier or starchy bliss for the bird,
the insect, the browsing doe.

Blossoms keep blossoming
art adorns museum walls
tables are set, meals lavished or left.
We can look but overlook,

the perilous in the oceans
the drought squeezed flung
the violence-soaked swimmers,
walkers, train-riders, boat-filling,
in flight,
the slowly starving.
In the wake of withdrawals
and infatuated arm sales.

Blossoms are blossoming like wildfire-
these are the cherry trees’ moments
to dance
and lift their incandescent limbs
skywards.
Perilous, their timing
to pair cell with cell-
the wind waltzing pollen
to selectively pondering egg.
Too much rain
harsh wind
or unexpected freeze,
leaves the beauty of blossoming
unrealized.

Can we see beyond
today’s blossoming atrocities?

When will we comprehend
all the eviscerated flowers
raining to the ground?

Cynthia Jatul is a biology teacher in a Seattle Public High School. An understanding of nature and a commitment to justice are central to her teaching. She has been published by Appalachia and Catamaran and has had an essay accepted by Canary. Read other articles by Cynthia.