April Morning – a poem by John Muro

April Morning
 
A pair of sparrows, shut-ins
Buried in the lower boughs,
Draw up-wards in giddy banter
To unzipper this day, giving
Way to earth’s slow yawn and
Easeful stretch into a yellow
Smock of light, while darkness
Scurries beneath the sodden
Stoops and sloped porches
Of houses just come back to
Life. The last vestiges of a
Moonless night have been
Folded and tucked into the
Inky wounds that sit between
The branches of conifers as
A drowsy wind, frost-chilled,
Meanders across an expanding
Pasture of sky before its fateful
Stumble, spilling from its heavy,
Ice-laden bucket more blue than
This day can possibly bear.

A resident of Connecticut, John Muro’s first volume of poems, In the Lilac Hour, was published in 2020 by Antrim House. His second volume, Pastoral Suite, will be published this spring by Antrim House, as well, and both are or will soon be available on Amazon. A two-time, 2021 Pushcart Prize nominee, John’s poems have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including Barnstorm, Euphony, Grey Sparrow, Penumbra, River Heron and Sky Island.