Slump Block by Chuck Salmons
Pudding Magazine #57

A hard winter ending,
and a stroll down our street
reveals another neighbor
packing a U-Haul,
maneuvering the melting ice.
And we ponder the bubble—
did it burst? Or simply deflate
only to swell again,
now, mocked by tulips rising
from the ground.

We walk past windows undressed
save gaudy labels,
beneath the pin oaks, clinging
to those dingy mid-March leaves,
and the maples lining the street
with bare branches and vacant nests,
wondering when the robins
will ever return.