April 1, 2020
April 1st
The Sun bright and warm; it will be a nice spring day today
Birds are singing; their chirps will lift the sky
Runners on the roads
Bikers on the tracks
Lovers holding hands
I will go home and get my garden soil ready to plant
I will go to the market and get seeds and pots
I will greet the cashier and help the high school girl load my truck
My kids will come back from school
I will hug and kiss them
Will have dinner..... together
They will invite their friends to stay
They will party on the porch while I am digging the ground
They will make lemonade
They will spread a picnic blanket under the trees
and share a drink and a snack… and laugh
Fill your lungs with the young sprouts scenting the air
Earth is waking to our dreams
A bouquet of flowers is hiding behind the tree
Don’t peek. Wait for it. Wait for it.. Wait for it.
Sorry! It’s April Fool’s Day…
Author
Rana Bitar is a Syrian-American physician, poet, and writer. She earned her Master’s in English and Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University. Her poetry has appeared in many journals including, DoveTales, Pittsburgh Poetry Review, Magnolia Review, El Portal, Pacific REVIEW, Black Coffee Review, The Phoenix, The Dewtrope, The International Human Rights Art Festival, The Charleston Anvil, and in Seeing Things: Anthology of Poetry: Woodland Arts Editions and Bright Hill Press & Literary Center, 2020. Her essays have been published in The Pharos Journal and Pink Panther Magazine; her poetry chapbook, A Loaf Of Bread (Unsolicited Press, 2019), was a finalist in the “Concrete Wolf Chapbook Competition” in 2017, and won an honorable mention in “The 2017 Louis Award” for poetry. Her narrative nonfiction book, The Long Tale Of Tears and Smiles, will be published by Global Collective Publishers, Spring 2021. She lives in upstate NY, where she practices hematology and oncology.
Rana Bitar