Sheltering in Place (Holmes)

Spring is on hold.

Maples, oaks, and lindens

clench their fists,

refusing the friendly gesture

of flat, green leaves.

Birds sing softly, compelled

to disguise their disbelief.

Busy as goldfish, darting

from task to task in our glass houses,

we barter butter for yeast, wave

to each other from front porches,

offer comfort where we can.

Resistance has come to mean

this connecting without touching.

Whole demographics

dream the same two dreams:

Falling at night from a high window

through snow and clouds that conceal

the ground until the last second.

Hiding a crowd of frantic women

and children in our attic sanctuary

then walking alone downstairs

to answer the ringing doorbell.

Adaptable as finches, we embrace

the routines of our grandmothers:

baking bread, writing letters,

and walking to the mailbox.

Like our grandmothers, we try

to put a good face on it, but

we are lonely for home.

We miss the old country.

Meredith Holmes has two poetry collections, both published by Pond Road Press: Shubad’s Crown, 2003; and Familiar at First, Then Strange, 2015. From 2005-2006, she served as the first poet laureate of Cleveland Heights. Meredith is a freelance writer, focused on tech transfer and women in engineering, science, and politics.