April in Ohio--the Denise Levertov Poem

April in Ohio

By Denise Levertov

Each day

the cardinals call and call in the rain,

each cadence scarlet

among leafless buckeye.

and passionately

the redbuds that can’t wait

like other blossoms, to flower

from fingertip twigs,

break forth.

as Eve from Adam’s

cage of ribs,

straight from amazed treetrunks.

Lumps of snow

are melting in tulip-cups. #

Long ago, around 1976, when I was working as an English tutor at the University of Cincinnati, a colleague by the name of Sarah Cotterill showed me this poem by Denise Levertov. I think the great poet had been a visiting professor at the University of Cincinnati around 1975 or so--and wrote this poem in response to Ohio's treacherous spring weather. Sarah Cotterill herself is a wonderful poet and has published some fine books of poetry.

Forsythia

Forsythia in snow, and a frozen daffodil

The only intact daffodils are ones I picked a couple days ago!

View from my deck on a snowy April 3, 2016

Cardinals, chickadees, sparrows, all sorts of birds, around my birdfeeders this morning

A Poem for a Snowy Day in Late April

April in Ohio

By Denise Levertov

Each day
the cardinals call and call in the rain,
each cadence scarlet
among leafless buckeye.

and passionately
the redbuds that can’t wait
like other blossoms, to flower
from fingertip twigs,
break forth.

as Eve from Adam’s
cage of ribs,
straight from amazed treetrunks.

Lumps of snow
are melting in tulip-cups. 

Denise Levertov wrote this in Cincinnati, around 1974. She had been a visiting prof at the University of Cincinnati. Unfortunately, I didn't see her or meet her at the time, even though I lived very close to campus in my $40/month apartment. Around 1975, Sarah Cotterill, a wonderful poet and friend, showed me this poem, and it has been important to me ever since.

So last evening as I drove through Chardon Township in a near blizzard, and this morning, as I awoke to a dusting of snow on my deck, I thought of this poem, of the great poet Denise Levertov, and of my old friend Sarah Cotterill.

A Little Snow this April Morning--and a Denise Levertov Poem

April in Ohio

By Denise Levertov

Each day
the cardinals call and call in the rain,
each cadence scarlet
among leafless buckeye.

and passionately
the redbuds that can’t wait
like other blossoms, to flower
from fingertip twigs,
break forth.

as Eve from Adam’s
cage of ribs,
straight from amazed treetrunks.

Lumps of snow
are melting in tulip-cups. 

We Know This Drill! Snow in April. A Fine Denise Levertov Poem

Sunday it was 79 degrees and we walked around Holden Arboretum au naturel looking at all the spectacular spring flowers (well, part of that sentence is not 100% accurate). This morning it is 29 and snowing, with a few inches expected. We know this drill well in Northeast Ohio. Was it around 2008 when we had 4 feet of snow in April in Hambden Township, outside Chardon (around 2 feet around April 8th; another 2 feet around April 24th)? Of course that was after I had put my snowblower away for the season. My neighbor Bud came to my rescue with his front-end loader. There was no way to shovel that wet, heavy snow off my 100-foot-long driveway. Thanks Bud! So we know the drill. Yet every year we are surprised.

Somewhere in the early 1970's, 1973 or '74, Denise Levertov spent some time at the University of Cincinnati teaching poetry and holding workshops. I'm pretty sure that an old friend, Sarah Cotterill, was in those workshops and was influenced by Denise Levertov. I haven't seen Sarah since the summer of 1976. She was driving through Iowa and I was working at the Catholic Worker House in Davenport. Sarah and I had dinner at a restaurant in the Amana Colonies (a former utopian community). Anyway, I lost track of her and have only seen a bit of her poetry since then.

Somehow Sarah or someone else from the University of Cincinnati gave me a poem Levertov wrote that spring 40 years ago in Ohio. Here it is:

April in Ohio

By Denise Levertov

Each day
the cardinals call and call in the rain,
each cadence scarlet
among leafless buckeye.

and passionately
the redbuds that can’t wait
like other blossoms, to flower
from fingertip twigs,
break forth.

as Eve from Adam’s
cage of ribs,
straight from amazed treetrunks.

Lumps of snow
are melting in tulip-cups.