Spring in the North, Fall in the South. The Romans called this month Aprilis and it’s believed that the name comes from the verb aperirie “to open” because it’s when flowers begin to open in the Northern Hemisphere. Whatever the name, flowers are out … but there’s lurking danger …
ON GETTING STUNG
I picked wild nettles
with bare hands
felt the sting 
buried my face
in pricking tears
before the wealth
of green took
me on its tide
of rampant spring
and I could lean
into grass where
dock and dandelion
held healing
for the pain
I grasped in hot
beating fingers
Tradewind Books available on Amazon or your local bookstore.
1960willowtree 