the rix mix

FOR CHARLES REZNIKOFF
1894-1976

outside the spring is here
for once calendar & air the same

streets full of people
coats open or off, unhatted
a field of flowers opening to the sun
spring! spring is here!

he died not seeing this this year
he died in winter after many springs
but every spring he saw we see still
every spring he saw we see still

© 1978 by joel oppenheimer, names, dates & places, st andrews Press, Laurinburg NC

Sometimes there seems to be nothing much at all to an oppenheimer poem until you try to write one like it. Although he can resemble William Carlos Williams, the quality of sentiment is quite his own, especially the sense of humor, as in the tongue-tripping closing lines here.