after Cherry Blossoms Painted Outdoors, 1977, Jane Freilicher
After the shower down,
a snow carpet, blush-colored,
dusts tender grass
under this lone flower cloud.
Imagine a whole grove
of trees beyond the frame.
To inhabit spring.
Such abundance, months away.
To remember ice.
December gives no sign
of visible weather.
Do I ask of this painting too much?
To find in petal weather
some great truth or
the secret that will save us?
Vincent writes to Theo,
I haven’t seen anything
in its usual splendor yet.
Splendor meaning brilliance.
Wavelight, blossomlight,
and at night, starlight,
the moon blooming full.
Light, the painter’s language.
All the kinds of light we need.
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 27, Issue 3.
Joannie Stangeland is the author of several collections of poetry, most recently The Scene You See. Her poems have also appeared in The MacGuffin, North Dakota Quarterly, New England Review, and other journals.See all items about Joannie Stangeland
