Friday Poem(s)

Environmental & Science Education
Poetry
Art and Environment
Edward Hessler

Greetings from St. Paul. If we were in England we might be Maypole dancing at Bishopstone Church, East Sussex as well as singing and eating cake celebrating the return of spring.

When I was a kid, hanging Maybaskets--the premier variety were made from wall paper and many involved elaborate weaving of the paper but most were in the form of  ice cream cones and from colored craft paper--on the doorknobs of front porches and stoops. We filled them with as many different kinds of wildflowers, pussywillows, and sprigs of flowering trees/shrubs as we could find. You would knock then run, hoping not to be seen. Once seen you were fair game for a chase..

I had a friend in high school who placed one on a door knob, rang the bell and started running. His chaser, the valedictorian of our class and one heck of a runner chased him down. He was out of breath and she was ready for more. She went on to become a physical education teacher; her father was the high school football coach. Go, purple and white.

Today is the 121st day of the year and its 18th week. There are 50 days between today and the Summer Solstice.  On April 25 we had our first 14 hour day of light and it won't drop below 14 hours a day until June 20.

The current announcement on the sign identifying St. Anthony Park Elementary School: CLOSED! Ran out of toilet paper. 

There are three poems today as explained below.

The Park Bugle is the community newspaper of four Saint Paul neighborhoods: St Anthony Park, Falcon Heights, Lauderdale and Como Park.

For 10 years it has held a poetry contest. This year writers were asked to draw their inspiration from   these words: stress, contentment and/or peace. First, second and third place winners have their poems published in the April issue (National Poetry Month).

You may read them here as well as introductory comments by Bugle reporter Scott Gordon.