The Quick Stickiness of Spring


Engulfed in white, almond trees have popped;
Bees are shot from bud to blossom and back
For brief vibrating visits in the honey-soaked embrace
of fresh petal blankets.

‘Cause this momentary season offers barely enough time
To meet the vast array of floral forests;
Find time to stockpile sweet nectar.

The ground is muddy from fast evaporating showers
The miasma of mud and must
Commingle with the vernal, aromatic air.

We make haste to her house on school lunch break
Windows down in her car
Our hands swimming in the speed created breeze.

When we arrive, it’s PB and J’s cut in triangles
Crusts trimmed and discarded
And a glass of milk from her parent’s fridge.

We finish quickly.
‘Cause fifty minutes is barely enough
To eat
And still have time to giggle back to her bedroom;
Fold up her skirt like a blown out umbrella on a gusty day.

Quick shallow breaths.

Then it’s her to the bathroom mirror
And me out the sliding glass door
To suck down a cigarette with my shirt off.

Watching the bees bouncing from bud to blossom and back
Leaving petal embraces
With the stickiness of spring
Air humming with wing vibrato.

Back in the car
It’s perfume and gum
As she bloodies her lips in the rear view mirror,
I hang my hand out the window
Spring air running through my fingers.


Jeremy Rich has published several poems in other collections like Watershed, Take Back The Night, Chantarelle’s Notebook, Ceremony, Thick with Conviction, Speedpoets, Poetic Hours, Drown in my Own Fears, and others. He is currently an 8th grade Language Arts teacher in Colorado, but was a long time chef in California.