Four April Rondels

i.

April again
Lord knows how we got here, I think—
April again—
Root thaw, aweless blooms; 
                         sunless brain
     (sworn by spirits in winter’s brink)
Wakes tongue-dulled to this crocus stink.
April again.

ii.

Rake the winter chaff, clear the path:
Insistent renewal covenant.
Wood bee and beetle, subsequent
Berries and grubs, bluebird bloodbaths

Mirror my canker: a year’s math
Callous to this old supplicant.
Rake the winter chaff, clear the path:
Incessant renewal, covenant.

Weed, mulch, and sprig take their turn, laugh
Brutishly in their fundament,
Their word, I know, mere supplement
To this wearied annual wrath:
Rake the winter chaff, clear the path:
Confessant renewal. Covenant.

iii. 

Skunks in love; how to dispose of?
Leave out some apples as a treat.
Be careful, too, lest they excrete!
‘What else you do, do wear some gloves,
And find a cage to impose “unlove.”
Now drive them far, but be discreet:
     Skunks in love.

Be warned they cheat, so I hear of,
Each slips from (wink wink) seat to sheets.
Clever stenches, flirtsome deadbeats,
Castrate them all, or walk out of,
     Skunks in love.

iv.

Callow heat now; I disavow.
And you, with holier-than thou
Smirk and false blush over your oolong 
Promise me change, spring that’s lifelong
Vow, daring refusal somehow.

Confess your false path, raised eyebrow
Again (last year’s trope) I allow
You this pretense, odorous strong  
       Callow heat now.

Our annual parley somehow
Finds April’s final thaw, and how
You trust your blood-and-berry wrongs
To soften at last like birdsong. . .
For new bloom? chrysalis on bough?
     No. I disavow.