Spring (Again) by Michael Ryan

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend May 4, 2015   Spring (Again)   Michael Ryan

The birds were louder this morning, raucous, oblivious, tweeting their teensy bird-brains out. It scared me, until I remembered it’s Spring. How do they know it? A stupid question. Thank you, birdies. I had forgotten how promise feels.            Copyright © 2015 by Michael Ryan. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “In an uncollected early essay called ‘Vorticism’ Ezra Pound wrote that things juxtaposed ‘create their own relationship’—a technique that poets since have taken to the bank and sometimes robbed it blind. ‘Spring (Again)’ presents a pretty straightforward narrative for three lines then spends the last two lines in the speaker’s mind. I hope the relationships are clear. The speaker is, as Emily Dickinson said, ‘not me, but a supposed person.’ I hope he’s a little funny as well as sad. After a winter like the recent one, people may need cheering up.” —Michael Ryan   Michael Ryan is the author of This Morning (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012).  He directs the MFA Program in poetry at the University of California, Irvine, where he lives. Most Recent Book by Ryan   This Morning (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012) "A Blessing" by James Wright "Crisscross" by Arthur Sze "Hustlers with Bad Timing" by D. A. Powell Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038