for Persephone

a pile of wood chips two truckloads no cash

what remained a steaming shoulder-high mound

long enough left greenery was grey ash

radiance in hyacinth's bursting bulbs

tight clenched green spears thrusting

aside layered chip mulch surging with life

hay-forked by hand wheelbarrow trip after trip

downhill up again sun glancing through clouds

a rainbow brightens 

                                     weary he worships

Persephone while ardent song birds sing

in slant sunshine sharpening seven tines

scraping his fork for a metallic ring

ever young Persephone smiling kind

she whom he loves returning to his mind

Dick Russell

revised version, January 2018

 Lilac Time, 2018                                   

                                            for John Berryman

Lilac time has come and gone
campanulas are over
bumble bees work summer flowers
fewer honey bees this year
fuchsia fronds on slender stems
cascading greens and browns
daubed with crimson
a hummingbird at sip

Lilac time is Berryman time
who wrote so he would survive
from one day to the next
but did not survive
cheerful projections he made
predicting
his own demise

he died one January day in Minnesota 
a most serious month 
no lilac found in his hand
no bees to bury that man
campanulas were over

                   ii

so we      who chose to combat life

are we any less than they?

who threw their lives away

thinking life hopeless

lilac time comes again

campanulas too

he died one January day

a most serious month 

three years before Microsoft was founded

when lilacs could not be seen in winter

even in digital dreams 

just picture books and paintings

and color TV

                                    & said Mr. Bones 

                                    don't forget The Movies