April Showers Bring May Flowers

Our Host

Anna J. Small Roseboro, a wife, mother, and National Board-Certified Teacher, has over four decades of experience in public, and private schools and colleges in five states. She has served as director of summer programs and chair of her English department, and mentors early career educators and facilitates leadership institutes for those teaching middle school through college students, and as a mentor with the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

Her poems, some written during VERSELOVE appear in EXPERIENCE POEMS AND PICTURES: Poetry that Paints/Pictures that Speak (2019). Anna advocates for poetry writing as a tool for assessment and invites teachers to reading and writing about poetry in her latest co-authored publication with Susan Steffel, EMPOWERING LEARNERS: Teaching Different Genres to Diverse Student Bodies (2023), and in an earlier textbook, PLANNING WITH PURPOSE: A Handbook for New College Teachers (2021) co-authored with Claudia A. Marschall. Rowman and Littlefield published both books. Anna now is working with a team of OPEN WRITE members to publish a textbook for using poetry writing as an assessment tool in content areas across the curricula.

Inspiration

The rhyme or axiom, “April showers bring May flowers” originates from a short poem written by Thomas Tusser in 1557. Michelle Yastremsky claims this concept was taken from Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer’s version:

Original:
“Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;”

Translation:
“When in April the sweet showers fall
That pierce March’s drought to the root and all
And bathed every vein in liquor that has power
To generate therein and sire the flower;”

Process

Think metaphorically, about a teary time or not so nice incident that preceded or evolved into a cheery time in your life, or in that of an historical or fictional character.
Choose a formal or informal poetic structure, one with or without rhyme or rhythm, but in a style that reflects obvious figurative language word choices, chosen for their sound or suggestive power.
In sixteen lines or fewer, describe the time or incident that could be an affirmation that “Yes, April showers do bring May flowers”.
Some writers today may decide to show the opposite. That’s because good times may have come first, so when loss came, the tears came. After May flowers, one may experienced April showers.

Anna’s Poem

May Flowers, Then April Showers?

Spending last days with parent or friend
Watching life slipping away at the end
One wonders which came first
The tears that from our eyes do burst
Or the good times we shared before the bend.

Growing up with my dear friend, “Cookie”
Hearing smooth cats shout out, “Lookie, Lookie”.
Greeny days of jealousy and glorious days of glee.

Then, when she was found shot dead in her yard
It was really hard! I wondered what would happen to me.

Would I rejoice that she was gone
Now that she’d no longer be the one
That guys chose to be their special date?
Would I recall more those times I did hate?
Or would I remember those days of glee
When she sweetly consoled and comforted me?

Your Turn

Now, scroll to the comment section below to write your own poem. (This is a public space, so you may use only your first name or initials depending on your privacy preferences.) Not ready? That’s okay. Read the poems already posted for more inspiration. Ponder your own throughout the day. Return later. And, if the prompt does not work for you, that is fine. All writing is welcome. Just write something. Also, please be sure to respond to at least three writers. Oh, and a note about drafting: Since we are writing in short bursts, we all understand (and even welcome) the typos and partial poems that remind us we are human and that writing is always becoming. If you’d like to invite other teachers to write with us, tell them to subscribe.