Calendar Crazed

lillian

March,
that month after February,
thirty-one days before April.
A season unto itself.

A time for bluster. . .
pushy blow-hard March winds,
nature’s  ill-tempered signal
she is ready to move on.

Impatient crocus tips,
tulip and joinquil crowns,
clamor beneath the soil
desperately seeking warmth.

Sun tries to abide.
Sharpens her rays,
pierces leaden skies,
melts errant snows.

And we, with pens in hand,
cross off calendar days.
Like Sousa leading the band
we march forward . . .

wanting so badly
to pick up the pace,
to quick-step
our way to spring.

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I’m hosting Tuesday Poetics at dVerse, the virtual pub for poets, asking folks to think about the verse from Ecclesiastes quoted below. It was set to music by Pete Seeger in the late 50s and became a full-fledged hit Turn! Turn! Turn! by the Byrds in 1965. We’re writing a poem about “a time to/for ______.”  Pub opens at 3 PM Boston time, so you can find the exact prompt there.
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:  a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.”

41 thoughts on “Calendar Crazed”

  1. Jane Dougherty March 5, 2019 / 3:10 pm

    I like that last image of the marching band, striking up a jaunty tune to get us to spring faster.

    Liked by 2 people

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    • lillian March 5, 2019 / 3:21 pm

      Oh yes indeed! Now if nature would just quick-step us to spring….
      We have snow on the ground from 9 inches that fell on Sunday night! Burrrr….

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      • Jane Dougherty March 5, 2019 / 4:14 pm

        I won’t tell you about our spring flowers, butterflies and lizards then.

        Like

  2. Frank Hubeny March 5, 2019 / 3:14 pm

    Those March winds are “pushy”. Those crocus tips may need to learn patience.

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  3. Grace March 5, 2019 / 3:15 pm

    I am ready to move on to spring too Lillian. We are like those impatient crocus tips, desperately seeking warmth. Thanks for hosting.

    Liked by 2 people

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    • lillian March 5, 2019 / 3:22 pm

      Oh yes indeed! We have about 8 inches of snow on the ground — fell all Sunday night and we’re getting colder temperatures the next few days so that sun is not abiding with any piercing rays here 😦

      Like

      Reply
    • lillian March 5, 2019 / 3:24 pm

      ….marching to spring……if we could just quicken the pace of Mother Nature! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

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    • lillian March 5, 2019 / 3:37 pm

      Thank you, Carol! And John Phillip Sousa would love your comment too 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  6. Beverly Crawford March 5, 2019 / 4:05 pm

    March is indeed feeling contentious this year. We have snow predicted again on Thursday. Spring will be SO welcome!

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
    • lillian March 5, 2019 / 4:29 pm

      Contentious….GREAT word for the month of March. We still have 8 inches of snow on the ground that fell on Sunday night and temps are supposed to be very cold the next few days. But there is sunshine! So I open my curtains and let it pour in 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  7. Glenn Buttkus March 5, 2019 / 4:15 pm

    This piece has perfect pitch, serenading the Maiden of Spring, paving the way with praise. With all the March poems out here, I expected some reference to the Ides; etu Lillian?

    Liked by 2 people

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    • lillian March 5, 2019 / 4:30 pm

      Hah!!! We think alike, my friend! I actually had the Ides in an early draft and somehow the March winds created a draft in the room that just erased it from the text! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  8. msjadeli March 5, 2019 / 5:04 pm

    You have captured the tension of the month, where everything is in a holding pattern until March makes up its mind. Well done!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • lillian March 6, 2019 / 8:36 am

      Ah yes….and March is so fickle in her ways! Glad you enjoyed.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  9. rothpoetry March 5, 2019 / 9:28 pm

    An interesting take on the prompt. Counting the days and then crossing them off one by one. And time marches on…..

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • lillian March 6, 2019 / 8:37 am

      It does indeed….and if we listen closely enough, that marching band music just keeps going and going and going….like the Everready bunny! Remember those ads? 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply
  10. Kenji Kojima March 5, 2019 / 9:36 pm

    “If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?” is a verse quoted quite often in my country and referred to in various occasions. Calendar Crazed came into my mind swiftly and made me recall this verse.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • lillian March 6, 2019 / 8:38 am

      We use that verse in the states as well! 🙂 Thank you, Kenji. So wonderful that you are here and we are back in tune with each other 🙂

      Like

      Reply
  12. kim881 March 6, 2019 / 2:30 am

    The alliteration in the title makes it stand out and also plays with the phrase ‘mad as a March hare’. I can see how it’s a season unto itself! I love the bluster and ‘pushy blow-hard March winds’, the ‘Impatient crocus tips’ and general clamour of growth, but what a finale!
    ‘And we, with pens in hand,
    cross off calendar days.
    Like Sousa leading the band
    we march forward . . .
    to quick-step
    our way to spring.’
    I’m dancing along with you, Lill!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • lillian March 6, 2019 / 8:39 am

      LOVE your reply, Kim! You have me smiling this morning. 🙂 Glad you enjoyed.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  13. lynn__ March 6, 2019 / 7:08 am

    I LOVE your imagery of March…blustery, like a brass band and us, majorettes blowing whistles with words 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    • lillian March 6, 2019 / 8:43 am

      Thank you, Lynn! Tell you a funny Iowa story: we lived 20+ years in Iowa City — home of the University of Iowa and the Hawkeyes — including the Hawkeye marching band. We were good friends with the man who was the director of the marching band….his children went to school with ours and I was in a sewing group with his wife. They had a big lab dog they aptly named Sousa! 🙂 One halloween, the doorbell rang and of course I opened the door with my bowl of candy at the ready. There sat Sousa! I could see he had his collar on and his leash…..Myron (the band leader/friend) was hiding behind our buses and I heard this voice boom out “Trick or treat. I want a bone to eat!” 🙂 It was hilarious. And Sousa just sat there looking up at me with his huge brown eyes!!!! 🙂 Ah — thanks for the memories, Lynn! 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

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      • lynn__ March 6, 2019 / 11:31 am

        Ha, a funny Halloween trickster at your door!! Thanks for sharing about a dog named Sousa 😀

        Liked by 1 person

  14. annell4 March 6, 2019 / 11:58 am

    You have said it perfectly. I often think of time, it is so elusive. Hard to let go, and just be. Always wondering, what time is it, are we secretly calculating how much time is left?

    Liked by 2 people

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    • lillian March 6, 2019 / 3:29 pm

      In my seventh decade, I do indeed find myself thinking more about time and more about the cycle of life. It’s interesting I think, that I now have a more profound and deeper understanding of what being a parent means. We invest our time in our children from the time they enter the world….spend so so much time with them, helping them with daily tasks that enable them to survive when they are but infants….to teaching the to walk….to chuckling at their toddler ways, to seeing them through elementary years, through dealing with adolescence….and watching them leave. Then, perhaps, watching them marry and have children of their own. And we realize that as an individual, in many ways, we are so much more attached and invested in our children than we are in our parents….and it’s because we remember so many minute moments of their childhood that they have no memory of. In so many ways, parents pour all that they are into loving and nurturing their children….we remember much much more of that time than they do.
      Ah….you’ve got me babbling here…..suffice it to say that yes…I do think we contemplate the meaning of time much more often as we age.

      Liked by 1 person

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    • lillian March 7, 2019 / 1:25 pm

      March is truly a blustery and fickle month! A season unto itself….not winter….not spring.

      Liked by 1 person

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    • lillian March 7, 2019 / 1:26 pm

      Thank you! And this Sunday, here in Boston we move to Daylight Savings Time…..which means days will get longer – but – sadly we will still have frozen snow on the ground!

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    • lillian March 7, 2019 / 1:26 pm

      Thank you, Frank! Glad you enjoyed. I always find myself getting mad at the mad month of March!

      Liked by 1 person

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    • lillian March 7, 2019 / 1:27 pm

      Oh yes — we had to turn up the heat last night and get out an extra blanket!

      Liked by 1 person

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      • katiemiafrederick March 7, 2019 / 1:31 pm

        i don’t get cold
        When Moving
        Around but
        Yeah Sleep
        Is the
        Occasion
        For Warm
        Blankets and
        Hugs in the Winter..:)

        Liked by 1 person

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