It has nothing to do with the girl.
She just happened to be walking
by when the spring arrived—
her presence was incidental.
But it did arrive—
a quiet exclamation of new
Maple buds and chickadee song and
grass still too wet to mow but too long
to let go another week.
I walk with my hands in my pockets.
I'm not sure what to make of this—
new buds, birdsong, grass, the girl—
I have done nothing, and spring is here.
Matt Smythe from the Finger Lakes region of western New York. An Army veteran and lifelong outdoorsman, Matt suffers from an inability to sit still. If he’s not in the woods, or on the water, he’s scheming ways to get there. His work has appeared in Free Range American, Gray’s Sporting Journal, the Fly Fish Journal, The Drake, Southern Culture on the Fly, Revive, Midcurrent, TROUT Magazine, and a handful of other non-outdoors-related magazines and literary journals. He recently published a book of poetry with Dead Reckoning Collective titled Revision of a Man.
Follow Matt’s blog, Glorious Mayhem here.
Stand-Up Weekend with KP Burke is taking the stage. A standout from Roastmasters and host of the American Loser podcast, KP brings his signature bite to the mic. He’s joined by Matt McCoy, a two-time Webby Award winner, Johnny O'Keeffe, former Marine infantryman, and creator of military comic strip Bastards Don't Do That , with the evening hosted by Linette Palladino, as seen on HBO and named New Jersey’s Funniest Female.