West Chester Spotlight: Chris Bullard

The following rondeau is by Chris Bullard, who is in my "Rondeaus, Rondels, and Ballades" workshop at the West Chester Poetry Conference:


Inter regnum

The grass is green, its vigor so intense
And overwhelming that we blink against
That forces. Spring occurs, again. We have come
With eyes dimmed by the indoor tedium
And with ears muffled by the long silence,

But with hope we might receive recompense
From months of snow, in the benevolence
Of warm weather. Instead we shiver from
The grass so green.

So blessings may conceal old punishments
And growth give color to a new absence.
We're the subjects of an icy kingdom
Abating now, in this inter regnum,
To show that on the graves of our parents
The grass is green.


Bio: Chris Bullard is an administrative law judge from Collingswood, New Jersey.