fists of magnolias 
shall uncurl 
and beckon in 
troves of mist 
as cardinals 
issue falsely 
approbative dictums 
and gestures 
toward warm 
breezes come and go 
coyly as so much
conditional love—
and this
is how April 
will manage to sell 
its thirty-
day-wind-and-rain 
hell to its victims.