O Lilac Time

Glorious scents! Our Spring is slow moving this year. Cooler weather and rain has kept many blossoms in their prime.

Does it bother anyone when an author references a plant, animal, mineral in the wrong time of year? It really makes me unhappy. I get fussy and stuck on it.

There are several poems in What the Living Do by Marie Howe that place magnolias and lilacs in the wrong time of year in Rochester NY. Whenever I see the blooms, I think maybe it was a really cool year and Marie saw this, but even in our coolest seasons, it's never June. Makes me wonder about truth and image. I can see the reasoning of saying pop bottle over pop can, if it makes the music of the line~ But, inserting nature when it can't possible be bothers me. Gawd, I'm such a purist.

Although, there was a day in my teenage past with Marie, it was April, a rainy, sullen day and we went into a florist shop on East Avenue and there were daffodils everywhere-- all that yellow made us giddy.We bought bouquets. I can't remember who we gave them to, but we place them on the dashboard of her car called "Pedals." The sun was shining on the inside. The music was blasting. We were happy in spite of everything.