May 2018

This month’s poem was selected by Polly Brown.

Beltane—May 1

       by Deborah Melone

Today is Beltane

Wear yellow flowers

Walk your cows between

The two bonfires

Leap over the flame

Garland the cattle

Leave the spirits oatcake

Drink the winy caudle

Dance round the maypole

Decked with shells today

Honor the union

Of Lord and Lady May

Strew primrose and hawthorn

At windows and doors

From the Beltane fires

Rekindle yours

Deborah Melone lives in Watertown, Massachusetts. For many years a writer and editor at a scientific consulting company, she now teaches English as a Second Language to adult students at the Watertown Public Library. She has been a member of the poetry collective Every Other Thursday since 1983, and has published in a number of magazines and journals. She has published the poetry collection Farmers’ Market and two chapbooks, Walking the Air and The Wheel of the Year.