A Fine Spring Morning
"April comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers."
—Edna St. Vincent Millay
"Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it."
—Andre Gide
— It's another fine spring morning in Pocatello, my hometown.
The city's homeless alcoholics are lined up outside the plasma center waiting to score money for their next drink or a decent meal.
Trains squeal through town howling mournfully at intersections, coupling violently, awakening gentle sleepers and out-of-town guests unused to sudden metallic clashes, the sound of commerce of money changing hands.
A murderer and a child molester are sentenced, and an alleged necrophile is charged.
Experts predict the mighty Portneuf may overflow its banks. Officials are worried, say the TV talking heads and newspaper headlines.
Somewhere in the city hearts are breaking, families grieve, couples fall in love. Somewhere in the city, children pretend to read, bullies are bullying, and a dog digs holes in Granny's newly spaded garden.
Somewhere in the city a single mother loses her job. The Food Bank runs low on goods, while on the other side of town contracts are signed that increase one man's wealth.
Despair brings a laboring father to suicide.
Babies cry.
An eager drummer practices, amusing his pianist neighbor; bagpipes blare at an “old country” funeral.
Throughout the city, wise men practice democracy, meet over coffee to cuss out politicians, to straighten out the economy, fix all our social ills with chuckles and guffaws, an occasional fist slammed on the table.
Somewhere in the city politicians plot campaigns, hone their vote-gathering smiles, their plaid responses to serious issues.
A poet writes forbidden words and dreams of saving the world.
A young mother seeks salvation in homemade bread and fresh strawberry jam, in wet towels hung outdoors in the fresh Idaho breeze.
A teacher teaches a pretender to read.
And all the while, spring rains green up the city's parks. Purple and red crocus spike lawns, and forsythia buds make ready to burst forth in splendor