The springtime catches me by surprise
The springtime catches me by surprise.
Each year, the charcoal grey zin scents
Of waning fires recede, supplanted by
New yellow-green flavors of the air.
Eternal etchings of winter snow and ice
And barren trees scratching at the sky
Give way to watercolor promises
Of warmer days to come.
I want to leave before the party ends
I want to leave before the party ends,
When crowds condense to couplets, awkward threes,
And forgotten glasses scattered, spilled
At times like tears and tissue-smeared
On precisely polished oak and pine.
The conversation fades from laughter shared,
Hand-colored memories from the black and white
Into one more murmured remember when
And hems and sighs at silence that gathers
In corners and blows across the floor,
When unknowing children rest their blinking heads
Against the stiff and dusty jackets on their dads.
I too want to rest my scratchy eyes, to finish
My cooling coffee, rinse the dish, bid adieu,
And step into the winter night crackling with cold,
Where I can feel alone alone.
Brian J. Noggle graduated from Marquette University with a degree in Writing-Intensive English. His poetry has appeared in magazines such as Prolog, Artisan Journal, and Sink Full of Dishes. He has published two chapbooks, Unrequited and Deep Blue Shadows, and a collection entitled Coffee House Memories as well as John Donnelly’s Gold, a novel, and The Courtship of Barbara Holt, a play. Originally from Wisconsin, he now lives in southwest Missouri.