IN HONOR OF National Poetry Month, I am posting the first of my four most recently published poems. They appeared in the Fall 2018 issue of “Fifth Wednesday Journal.” Enjoy. Or not.

Al Norte

It’s early spring / and I’ll soon hear / the tweet-zeets / of the cedar waxwings.

They come / from who-knows-where / to feast on the red / berries on the tree

outside my bedroom window. / They’re here for a few days, / long enough to strip / the tree of its shiny fruit.

they come in droves, / chattering, no doubt / commenting on the quality / of the year’s vintage.

Then they are gone, headed / north in search of more trees / with beautiful berries. Up north. / Al norte, what we said as kids

to describe what we did / every summer, in search of work. / We’re going up north. / We’ve been up north.

That was all we needed to say. / Everybody understood. / And, like birds, we knew why: / The shiny fruit beckoned.