May Day

5 SCULLY JAMES SCULLY MAY DAY but there is no maypole, no towering thrust no axis stuck in the the middle of it no milk blue tissue streamers, no ropes dangling and no, no crisp yellow shock of yellow or yellow-white daffodils no haywire wild forsythia no violet scrim, not one identical pink carnation the sky might be white, gray, startled blue or greasy a ceiling of old smoke, might even drizzle throughout the afternoon but, anyway, this day . . . it's not the bank of a sand-bottomed river 6 THE MINNESOTA REVIEW strewn with families, food hampers, not the chill rippling dark, darker cloud as it herds them squealing laughing, pitching in, back under the trees it's no picnic, no walk in the woods no sudden sunlight flapping across a meadow I would like to say it is I would like to say come on we'll stroll and wave as roses in blue collars and in white, in shorts skirts blouses sandals and what-not meanwhile I did not wish for this any more than you meanwhile here is your garrison belt (ugly thing) 7 SCULLY and here is your flag your sprig your only spring, it is red torn easily, shreds, is stapled to the stick you hold in your hand makeshift symbol of a beautiful human earth 8 it will take this and more, more than a symbol to make even one petal yes it will 9 what is human anyway not to mention beautiful or earth we have yet to learn what a flower is ...