May

Just before hot weather
Disabuses us of spring illusions,

Leaves become, for a week or so,
Everything they ought to be:

Plump, supple as fabric,
Indelible shades of green,

And so dense we pretend
We can’t see through them.

*

Don Thompson has been writing about the San Joaquin Valley for over fifty years, including a dozen or so books and chapbooks. A San Joaquin Almanac won the Eric Hoffer Award for 2021 in the chapbook category. For more info and links to publishers, visit his website at www.don-e-thompson.com