APRIL 1
Elizabeth Paulette-Coughlin
Early Spring in the Vale
For weeks
we listened from our beds,
the lake’s screech and moan—
a feral animal in heat—
or a young mother
about to deliver—
what?
This week ice calving,
gush of water like geysers—
one red canoe pushes
through the newly opened
body and black liquid
Trillium greens dot the forest floors
beside our cottage
From bits of string and grasses
a mourning dove fashions
her nest in our crabapple—
her wings stir the morning air,
so pungent — ripe
with the smell of compost,
last fall’s leaves
and moist soil
As we, like children again,
rubber boot down our mucky road,
the lilac’s hard buds
still dream
their honeyed fragrance
In my garden
yellow tulips
are sultans’ caps—
no—
tiny finches
ready to open—
fly
into Spring!
Elizabeth Paulette-Coughlin is an ecopoet and writer living in Montreal and Vale Perkins, Quebec. Her studies in ecopoetics and ecopsychology have influenced much of her work, and the natural world has served as her Guide since childhood. She has published poems in many chapbooks and anthologies. Boneset and Yarrow, a haiku collection, was published in 2024. Words of Summer, her tanka-like conversation with poet Jennifer Boire will be published in April 2026.
All through the month of April, we’re sharing a poem a day, celebrating the vibrant voices of our local poets writing in English. This initiative is coordinated by Angela Leuck, publisher of Shoreline Press.
Join us as we explore the creativity and stories of our community, one poem at a time.