Blooming is an Act of Defiance, Now: Meredith Starkman

March 27, 2020 Kate Belew with Meredith Starkman (New York)

I made friends with cities

at least two of them

wrote me letters I keep

buried in my yard beneath

the old screen door, unhinged,

an entire bed of daffodils. Spring feels different.

Like blooming is an act of defiance, now

And I never wanted to reference those slender gaps in sidewalks 

But now I can't step on them, for fear.