March 16, 2021

The crocus, first in my yard to bloom, purple 
with tiny orange kernel—blossom within blossom. 
 
Ground saturated from a foot of snow three weeks ago. 
Now, magnolia—white feathered with pink stripes; 
 
furry gray-green sepal they open from; the way sun filters
through slim petals. Spring’s early yellows: witch hazel, 
 
forsythia, daffodils, meadow buttercups. Air fertile, dense 
with pollen and birdsong. Trails, a mudfest. Yesterday, on the first
 
anniversary of my mother’s passing, I find three socks fallen 
in the narrow space between washer and stationary tub. Two mine, 
 
lost a year or more, the other a white anklet, my mother’s name, 
Vivian, printed in permanent black ink when she moved 
 
to a nursing home. Bone-white, so soft in my palm—a dove.

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