This Day in History
Almost steady
as rain, falling windless
and with purpose.
Tulip leaves cut
through soil
like artful thieves. Soon they’ll steal
our attention
with wild gestures of yellow and red.
Caution and danger. Sun at noon
and evening. I look up
“this day in history”
and find a litany of murders and harms.
The snow melts on contact.
Black asphalt holds
deep reflections.
Two million refugees are walking through winter.
There is nothing to do.
They are walking to different springs.
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Audrey Hackett lives in Yellow Springs, Ohio. A 2022 recipient of an Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council, she holds an MFA in poetry from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her poems have appeared in Pleiades and The Bitter Oleander.
