This time of year always brings me a feeling of hope. Some of this has to do with the first (and often fleeting) glimpse of spring, some of this has to do with the arrival of Easter and Passover, which are inherently hopeful holidays, and some of this might have to do with knowing that the end of the spring semester is closer than the start! This year we might add to the list the dissemination of the various COVID-19 vaccines and the hope that they offer for a return to some kind of normal.

To celebrate the hopefulness (however fleeting and unsettled) of this time of year, I thought I’d post two poems by Sally Dunn: “Expecting Spring” and “Surely, It Must Be True.” Both poems offer simple but evocative meditations on hope and will appear in NDQ 88.1/2 which should be published in the next month or so. 

Please check out the table of contents for issue 88.1/2 here. I’ll be posting more content from 88.1/2 here over the next couple of months. If you like what you see in our table of contents, do consider subscribing to NDQ.

As you likely know, these days are particularly challenging for many cultural institutions, publishers, and little magazines. So even if NDQ doesn’t float your boat, If you can, consider buying a book from a small press, subscribing to a literary journal (like our UNP stablemate, Hotel Amerika), or otherwise supporting the arts.  

Expecting Spring

The day the crocuses bloomed
I walked the beach barefoot.

           The bell in the harbor was new.

Two days later it snowed.

 

Surely, It Must Be True

Somewhere an old man laughs.

Somewhere a young man is content.

Somewhere a woman smiles.

Somewhere a child knows no fear.

Somewhere friends remain true.

Somewhere someone sleeps without nightmare.

Somewhere a murderer stops.

Somewhere soldiers put down their weapons.

Somewhere bellies know no hunger.

Somewhere hatred is unknown.

Somewhere the dead stay buried.

~

Sally Dunn’s poetry is forthcoming in Schuylkill Valley Journal and has appeared in 2River View, Plainsongs, and Glass Mountain, among others. Her poetry won honorable mention in the Joe Gouveia Outermost Poetry Contest. She lives on Cape Cod.

88.1/2