An Ode to April

I used to dislike the month of April. As T.S. Eliot declared in his poem “The Waste Land," “April is the cruelest month.” The pollen, the “April showers that bring May flowers,” and the impending doom of assignments for the end of the semester. All of these combined things created this sense of uneasiness around this period of spring.

April feels like a period of limbo, a semester purgatory of sorts. You may be waiting to hear back from job interviews or waiting for graduation or for summer to begin. The month always felt a little stagnant to me, like the humid air before a thunderstorm.

But as April quickly approaches, I’m beginning to realize that my tune may have changed. Maybe it’s because I packed my schedule so full for April there is no longer any room to wait in this stagnant period. Or maybe it’s because the normal spring allergies haven’t hit yet in Blacksburg and I am wildly thankful for this new spring opportunity. Or maybe it’s because I’ve finally realized in my late years of college that being present and accepting each month is the best thing to do for you.

The month is so poetic. It makes sense that April is National Poetry Month. My back and forth feelings on April itself show the emotions that come with its arrival. I’ve been reading a lot of poetry the past couple of weeks for my own inspiration or for leisure and themes of April are constantly in juxtaposition. It’s melancholy or joy. Grief or hope. Loss or life.

All of this being said, I’m making a plan to romanticize April and its emotions whether it’s through channeling this poetic energy into my writings or harnessing the feelings spring brings out in nature.

So, here’s to what the new month may bring, I end on a poem, “April” by Mary Oliver:

I wanted to speak at length about The happiness of my body and the Delight of my mind for it was April, a night, a full moon and-

But something in myself for maybe From somewhere other said: not too Many words, please, in the muddy shallows the

Frogs are singing.