Lisa LaCivita
April is National Poetry Month! In April of 2019 I created a poster (from clip art) and selected books of poetry to display in the Bowman branch of HRLS. Sixteen books of poetry got checked out! In April of 2020 I wrote a blog to commemorate National Poetry Month. I thought I would take a year off from the topic in 2021. But it is April, a very poetic time of year. Also, the one-year anniversary of April 2020 when it became clear that the Shenandoah Valley would not escape Covid-19. As April 2021 rolled around, I remembered that I had written a poem in 2020. A rare occurrence, but a product of my daily walks through my neighborhood; to the east was the Blue Ridge, to the west Little North Mountain. Sometimes the mountains are purple or pale blue or a medium blue. But some days the mountains turn a deep blue shade of blue. It was such a beautiful day and yet the pandemic put the brakes on life and a pall over everything. I was not suffering but many people were.
With the vaccine, this April is night and day compared to last year. We have hope now. April 2020 was the beginning of the first U.S. pandemic in 100 years! This poem is dedicated to the families and friends of the 10,625 people in Virginia (as of April 20, 2021) who have been taken by Covid-19. It is also dedicated to us, and to the unique poems that are our lives.
Deep Mountain Blue
By Lisa Frances LaCivita
April 2020
Deep mountain blue; the view is laced with pastel leaves
Rows of cumulous clouds roiled by the breeze.
Blue, blue, sky; April full, full, bloom. We shelter at home.
I’m so grateful to have my neighborhood street to roam.
It seems unfair to be okay while others face toil and doom.
But with the wind, the sun and the bloom,
Life is good here this April afternoon.
Sending good wishes during these trying times
Faced by all those workers on all those the front lines.
These are not just numbers, but people who are real,
With left-behind loved ones, who know how heartbreak feels.
Strange times upset so many lives.
All I can do is stay home and send some good vibes?
It seems unfair to be okay while others face toil and gloom.
But with the wind, the sun and the bloom,
Life is good here this April afternoon.