The cherry blossoms are the only ones
allowed to litter.
Bless
them, they are royalty.
They
are allowed this bittersweet privilege.
I
walk across carpets of vivid
blushing
pink and silky milk-white and relish
speed
walking, relish being OUTSIDE
and
sorry to be caught
trampling
those petals dyed like
children’s
Easter eggs. I understand
why
wealthy people want to bathe
in
these.
These
jewel-like diva tear leaves
from
lady peacock trees
refusing
to be brown and plain
refusing
to be TRASHED
by
the brutish tyrant matrons
the
April and May rain
showers.
Declining
to bow to the sturdy maples and
fall
over and rot in a dirt ditch, as a
final
tribute to a life well-lived as resplendent
flowers.
And
YET, cherry blossoms remain beauty queens.
Blooming
strong, rarely crowned foolishly.
***
Emily R. Zarevich is an English teacher and writer from Burlington, Ontario,
Canada. She has been published previously in Understorey Magazine, Living Education Journal, Wild Roof
Journal, Dreamers Creative Writing, and Prepare for Canada. She will soon be published in Women in Higher Education and Shrapnel Magazine.
See Brian Henry’s schedule here, including online and in-person writing workshops, weekly
writing classes, and weekend retreats in Algonquin Park, Alliston, Bolton,
Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Collingwood, Georgetown, Georgina,
Guelph, Hamilton, Jackson’s Point, Kingston, Kitchener-Waterloo, London,
Midland, Mississauga, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines,
Southampton, Sudbury, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Muskoka, Peel,
Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.
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