In Northfield, as I write this, snowbanks still prevent clear visibility for drivers, but in the past few days the thaw has begun. Perhaps one reason that April is especially appropriate for National Poetry Month is that it is a month so full of swift changes in weather, landscape, and growth, at least in these temperate zones. I look out now on rotten mounds of snow and growing patches of muddy soil but I know that by April 30 there will be a translation to the sweet smell of green grass, clouds of new green leaves overhead (where currently bare branches stand against the sky), and blooming plants everywhere. A painter’s palatte of color after a loooooong season of blue and white.

Garden of Quiet Listening, Carleton College Campus (2022)

For the eighth–and, I believe, last time–I am going to tackle the Poem-A-Day challenge. As I have done for the past couple of years, I will write a new poem each morning and then email the “catch of the day” to those who wish to receive it. Here on the Winona Media blog, I will spotlight something I love by another poet or writer, and I will also include a note on the back story for that day’s poem.

To receive my poem each day via email, just send me an email at “winonapoet@gmail.com” and I will add you to the list. (If you received the poems last year, then you’ll be on the 2023 list unless you let me know that you want to opt out.)

I hope that you will find a little extra time for nature and art, in whatever form you enjoy most, in this new season of Spring 2023!